Germany’s Covert War in the Middle East: Espionage, Propaganda and Diplomacy in World War I 9781350986602, 9781786733184

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Curt Pru¨fer was one of Germany’s leading diplomats in the early twentieth century, serving the Kaiser’s government, the Weimar Republic and the Nazis. During World War I, he was stationed in the Middle East, where he attempted to orchestrate – by various means, both official and informal – Ottoman participation in the war on the side of the Germans. Kevin Morrow is a researcher and translator with a wide range of experience amongst historical archives. He previously worked on the research team for Scott Anderson’s Lawrence in Arabia (2013).

“This is an exceptional work of editing. Kevin Morrow has produced a very good translation with a flowing narrative supported by an amazing body of notes that will help readers – both academics and general readership – to understand the context. The diary of Curt Pru¨fer, long forgotten, will shed light on previously little-known events that took place in the Middle East during the war and will help to reassess the German role in the region. This diary proves once more that the Middle Eastern front was not a sideshow.” – Roberto Mazza, Lecturer at the University of Limerick and author of Jerusalem from the Ottomans to the British (I.B.Tauris, 2013) and Jerusalem in World War I: the Palestine Diary of a European Consul (I.B.Tauris, 2015). “In this remarkable book, Kevin Morrow reveals a crucial source: the diaries of important early twentieth-century diplomatic actor Curt Pru¨fer. These illuminate the Ottoman preparations for the conquest of Egypt, the daily life in the desert and the relations between Turks and Germans during this period. The book offers readers a lively and unique description of what happened on the Palestinian front, and includes valuable information on the period’s various nationalist movements, from Zionism to Arabism, and their relations with the Ottoman and German authorities. The detailed footnotes masterfully contextualize the entries and will enable readers to better understand the text. Germany’s Covert War in the Middle East fills a significant gap in the history of the Great War and is essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the German and Turkish concerns in the Middle East during World War I, as well as the course of events on the Palestinian front.” – M. Talha C¸ic
ek, Assistant Professor, Istanbul Medeniyet University

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST Espionage, Propaganda and Diplomacy in World War I

Curt Pru¨fer Edited and Translated by Kevin Morrow

Published in 2018 by I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd London • New York www.ibtauris.com Text copyright q 2018 The Hoover Institution English translation copyright q 2018 Kevin Morrow The right of Curt Pru¨fer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the estate of the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Every attempt has been made to gain permission for the use of the images in this book. Any omissions will be rectified in future editions. References to websites were correct at the time of writing. International Library of Twentieth Century History 110 ISBN: 978 1 78453 143 0 eISBN: 978 1 78672 318 5 ePDF: 978 1 78673 318 4 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Typeset in Garamond Three by OKS Prepress Services, Chennai, India Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY

To my parents: you made me everything that I am. To the Syrian refugees of ‘Anjar and al Mafraq: Godspeed and a swift homecoming.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements and Notes on Sources Notes on Text, Transliteration and Terminology Abbreviations Map List of Plates

viii x xi xii xiii

Introduction

1

The Prewar Years

4

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

1914 1915 1916 1917 1918

13 63 123 149 169

Epilogue

196

Appendix I Appendix II Notes Bibliography Index

201 204 206 303 318

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND NOTES ON SOURCES

I used three original sources in writing this book: the correspondence penned by Curt Pru¨fer and his colleagues, now available in the German Foreign Office (Auswa¨rtige Amt, or AA) microfilm collection at the National Archives of the US near Washington, DC; the AA microfilm collection at the Politisches Archiv des Auswa¨rtigen Amtes (PAAA) in Berlin; and Pru¨fer’s diaries – written in often badly faded and occasionally illegible penciled script – housed at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution Archives. Great effort was spent trying to identify the people and places named in Pru¨fer’s writings. Many are seeing the light of day for the first time in a century. Others, unfortunately, must remain lost to history . . . for now. Innumerable archivists at several institutions deserve mention for their assistance, like Lewis Holland at the National Archives of the US, Martin Kro¨ger at the PAAA and Carol Leadenham of the Hoover Institution Archives. Additional thanks must go to Curt Pru¨fer’s daughter-in-law, Trina Prufer, who kindly gave me access to Pru¨fer’s personal records. Several individuals rendered tremendous aid and encouragement during the writing of this book: Scott Anderson, who introduced me to Curt Pru¨fer and his world through my research performed for his book Lawrence in Arabia; Roberto Mazza, professor of Ottoman

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

AND NOTES ON SOURCES

ix

history at the University of Limerick, who helped me launch this project; Lars Lu¨dicke, Hanna Sahawneh, Karen Michener and Ebru Yagız Willie, who corrected my German, Arabic and Turkish translations. Dana Ayers, Cindy Fogleman, Alana Johnson, Danny Miller, John Murdoch, Lauren Ross and Ebru Yagız Willie helped underwrite the cost of my research.

NOTES ON THE TEXT, TRANSLITERATION AND TERMINOLOGY

Curt Pru¨fer wrote primarily in German, sometimes in French, and occasionally used Italian, Arabic and Turkish words. In transliterating Arabic and Ottoman Turkish words, I have used the IJMES standard. Inevitably, the scholar of late Ottoman history must decide whether to refer to the Ottoman Empire and its peoples as “Ottomans” or “Turks”. By 1914, the Turkish rulers of the Ottoman Empire themselves were moving towards rejecting the empire’s ancient collective, multi-ethnic identity in favor of an increasingly mono-cultural, Turkish identity; most Westerners, including Pru¨fer and his German colleagues, used the term “Turks”. In deference to historical usage, I will refer to the empire’s leaders (and the instruments of their will, such as the army) as “Turks” and the Empire as “Ottoman”.

ABBREVIATIONS

AA AWM BL FA 300 HIA NAK NARA NfO PAAA SO TPC

Auswa¨rtige Amt Australian War Memorial British Library Fliegerabteilung 300 Pascha Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University National Archives of the United Kingdom at Kew National Archives and Records Administration (US) Nachrichtenstelle fu¨r den Orient Politische Archiv des Auswa¨rtigen Amtes Special Organization Trina Prufer Collection

Sinai map Map of the northern half of Sinai taken from The Times History of the War. Courtesy The Times of London.

LIST OF PLATES

Plate 1 Bedouin gendarmes at the El ’Ula station, Arabia. 1916. Courtesy Library of Congress. Plate 2 Colonel Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein. 1916. Courtesy Library of Congress. Plate 3 Galata Bridge in Constantinople, looking towards Galata and Pera. 1910. Courtesy Library of Congress. Plate 4 Enver Pasha visiting the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem, accompanied by Djemal Pasha. 1916. Courtesy Library of Congress. Plate 5 Turkish machine gunners at Tell ash-Sheria, Palestine. 1917. Courtesy Library of Congress. Plate 6 Recruiting for the holy war near Tiberias, Palestine. 1914. Courtesy Library of Congress. Plate 7 Fliegerabteilung 300 Pascha. Late 1916. Pru¨fer is standing in the back row, third from the left. Courtesy Norbert Schwake Collection. Plate 8 Lieutenant von Bu¨low, center, after a double kill. El ʽArish. 1916. Courtesy Norbert Schwake Collection.

xiv

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Plate 9 Curt Pru¨fer near Ismailiyyeh. 1915. Courtesy Trina Prufer Collection. Plate 10 Curt Pru¨fer in Cairo. 1910. Courtesy Trina Prufer Collection. Plate 11 Curt Pru¨fer in Turkish officer’s uniform. 1914. Courtesy Trina Prufer Collection.

INTRODUCTION

Late September 1914. Alexandria, British-controlled Egypt. Robert Mors1 was in trouble. Immigration officials at the port of Alexandria had detained him for questioning upon his arrival from Constantinople, and his answers to their questions weren’t adding up. The British Empire was now at war with Germany.2 Why was this man, an admitted German citizen, trying to re-enter Egypt, when most other Germans had already left or been expelled?3 Was Mors really returning because the German government had released him from military service, as he claimed? And what was his business in Constantinople, the rumored source of growing threats against British power in the Middle East?4 A search of the suspicious character’s luggage yielded two boxes of blasting caps for dynamite. Officials also found a hand-drawn map of the nearby Suez Canal and slips of paper with cyphered messages hidden on his person.5 Clearly, they had caught an enemy spy and saboteur. Initial interrogations pried only vague hints out of Mors. Eventually, though, the prisoner spilled details of a Turco-German plot to wage a campaign of bombings, guerrilla attacks and Islamist propaganda that would incite all Egypt to revolt, opening the door to a Turkish conquest (with German help). These revelations hardly surprised the British. For a generation, as Europeans prepared for World War I, German Foreign Office adventurists had advocated the incitement of holy war among Muslims in rival empires. This stratagem, they claimed, would bring victory by diverting

2

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

enemy troops away from fighting fronts in Europe, and better yet, win for Germany an expanded postwar sphere of influence in Ottoman lands.6 But that had just been talk. Now, according to the whispered rumors reaching British ears, the Germans and Turks had graduated to plotting acts of war. Mors’ confession provided a wealth of chilling details of the looming threat,7 but the British still lacked a crucial piece of the big picture: a secret treaty signed on 2 August that committed the neutral Turks to enter the war as allies of Germany.8 Each country had its own reasons for seeking the alliance. The Turks needed a powerful, resource-rich European protector to buy them enough respite from foreign aggression to reinvent themselves as a strong, independent state. Germany needed the Turks to block Russian moves against its ally Austria-Hungary, and to protect German investments throughout the Ottoman Empire.9 In the end, both nations came crashing down to defeat. The Germans committed a catastrophic blunder in allying itself with a country that was too weak to fight a global war. The Turks, for their part, further sabotaged the joint war effort in the Middle East through its brutal internal repressions10 which destroyed desperately needed manpower and damaged the loyalties of its own subjects. Consequently, the Turks not only lost the war, but their entire empire as well. Ultimate responsibility for entering the war unprepared lay with the Turks. The Germans, however, enabled the Turkish meltdown by equipping them to fight, by refusing to restrain and even helping to carry out their self-destructive war policies. Consequently, the wartime actions of both sowed the seeds of the bloody turmoil and violence that have convulsed the Middle East since 1918. Few played a more integral, active role in the events leading to the Ottoman downfall than Dr Curt Pru¨fer, a German secret agent outed by Mors. Throughout his four years of service to the Turco-German war machine in the Ottoman Empire, Pru¨fer travelled everywhere, saw everything and came to know everyone of significance in that theater of war. He attended the councils of its top leaders; he fought as a soldier in many of its battles; he spied on its enemies and churned out propaganda to rally enemy and Ottoman Muslim support for the Ottoman cause. And all the while, he was watching, listening and recording everything in diaries and reports to the German Foreign Office that are translated here in English en toto for the first time.

INTRODUCTION

3

The Pru¨fer material restores a virtual encyclopedia of long-forgotten historical details once known only to World War I’s losers. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Great War exploits of Germany’s desert fighters did gain brief attention, but ultimately, the tremendous acclaim lavished on their chief opponent, T.E. Lawrence,11 and the stigma of German war service following the two world wars, stole their thunder. Pru¨fer and his fellow “German Lawrences” subsequently sank into the nameless obscurity inevitably reserved for the defeated. This book attempts to remedy this imbalance. The account that follows is many things: a spy drama, a war story, a travelogue, even a cautionary tale. Above all, it constitutes testimony to the fact that sometimes those on the wrong side of history have an equally riveting and useful tale to tell. This, in Curt Pru¨fer’s words, is their story.

THE PREWAR YEARS

In February 1907, Curt Pru¨fer entered the imperial German consular service as a dragoman1 at the German general consulate in Cairo.2 The consulate was lucky to have received star talent like Pru¨fer. Gifted in learning foreign tongues, he spoke French, English and Italian fluently and understood Russian, Spanish and Portugese.3 His true gift, though, lay in his powerful command of Arabic. Fellow Arabist Paul Kahle later said that “there were only a few Arabists in Germany at the time who could speak and write modern Arabic and be active in the Arabic press like him”.4 Officially, Pru¨fer was hired to provide interpretation and translation services, and to dispense legal advice.5 Under the guidance of Max von Oppenheim,6 the consulate’s Arab-world expert, the young dragoman soon plunged headfirst into Germany’s shadow war against British power in Egypt. Pru¨fer egged on pan-Islamist and Egyptian nationalist rabblerousers. He harangued British authorities in the press. At least once, he and Oppenheim toured Egypt and Syria in Arab dress, preaching against British rule to bedouin shaykhs.7 During the Turco– Italian War (1911– 12), he recruited Egyptians to fight in Libya, a conflict he spun as an attack by Western infidels on the global Islamic community.8 Surveillance by increasingly annoyed British authorities eventually began to shrink the scope of Pru¨fer’s activities, culminating in his rejection in 1912 as candidate for the directorship of the national khedivial library and its precious collection of Arabic, Persian and Ottoman manuscripts.9 With little left to accomplish there, Pru¨fer resigned from the AA on 12 November 1913.10

THE PREWAR YEARS

5

The former dragoman traveled through Egypt for seven months with German painter Richard von Below following his resignation, afterwards translating eleventh-century Arabic verse to accompany Below’s sketches of Egyptian life. He continued writing newspaper articles on Egyptian culture, and wrote an entry on the Egyptian Arabic dialect for the 1914 edition of Baedekers A¨gypten. Back in Germany, he lectured for a few weeks on Oriental languages in Munich.11 The outbreak of war on 28 July 1914 abruptly cut short Pru¨fer’s aimless wanderings. Excited at the chance to practice the covert arts on a larger world stage, he wrote to the Foreign Office on 1 August to volunteer his services for “inciting unrest in Egypt”. The Foreign Office accepted, and less than a month later, Pru¨fer was en route to Constantinople to provide intelligence and propaganda services in the Middle East.12 This first decade of Pru¨fer’s government service could not have happened at a more auspicious time in his country’s history. Germany’s economy and population had mushroomed rapidly following the nation’s political unification in 1871, leading many Germans to believe that their new wealth and power entitled them to an overseas empire like their European neighbors. While Germany’s leadership did not initially share this view, the accession of emperor Wilhelm II in 1888 elevated demands for Germany’s “place in the sun” to a national obsession. A growing belief that Germany’s neighbors sought to thwart this through hostile, geographically encircling alliances only further underlined the urgency of Germany’s imperialist agenda.13 One noisy imperialist faction demanded the advance of Germany’s empire through military conquest and annexation. Most German imperialists, including Pru¨fer himself, advocated a more peaceful penetration of foreign regions by economic, cultural and political means,14 regions such as the Ottoman Empire. Germany had previously shown little interest in Ottoman lands before the 1880s,15 but when the Ottoman bankruptcy of 1875 moved Britain to abandon its long-time protectorship of the Empire, Germany pressed in to fill the void. Over the next few decades, Germany began pouring credit into Ottoman coffers, building vast railway systems throughout Ottoman domains, and sending military advisors to help the Turks modernize their armed forces.16 The kaiser personally encouraged these investments, particularly by his two state visits to Sultan Abdu¨lhamid II in 1889 and 1898.17

6

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Unfortunately, Germany’s new Ottoman partner was in the throes of a prolonged collapse. Throughout the nineteenth century, repeated military interventions by European powers on behalf of oppressed religious and ethnic minorities had inflicted tremendous territorial losses on the Ottoman Empire.18 Under the influence of internal separatist movements, other Ottoman provinces had detached themselves to form independent nations. To keep his disintegrating empire together, the increasingly paranoid sultan Abdu¨lhamid fought back against internal sedition and disloyalty with brutal, police-state tactics, earning him nicknames abroad like “Abdul the Damned” and “the Red Sultan”.19 An army revolt in July 1908, spearheaded by the clandestine Committee for Unity and Progress (CUP) – the Young Turks – finally broke the back of the Hamidian dictatorship. Spontaneous public displays of joy and solidarity broke out across the Empire, inspired by hopes for restored constitutional government and civil freedoms, especially for ethnic and religious minorities.20 High hopes for a new, peaceful “union of peoples” under the Ottoman umbrella21 quickly soured under the stress of counterrevolution, subsequent one-party dictatorship, a war with Italy (1911– 12), and two wars (1912–13) in the Balkans.22 As a result of the collective national trauma inflicted by these catastrophes23 and mounting fears of imperial collapse or partition, the empire’s Turkish leadership openly adopted Turkish nationalism as a guiding principle of national salvation in place of the now-discredited Ottomanism. This ideology proclaimed Muslim people of Turkish blood and language as superior, a dominant “ruling nation” consolidated around an Anatolian homeland with an Arab periphery, an ethnic primacy that demanded the ethnic cleansing of Anatolia24 from nonTurkish, non-Muslim elements. This goal became possible in late 1913 and early 1914 with the formation of the first CUP government, represented by a triumvirate of leaders who now became the public face of a new dictatorship.25 At the triumvirate’s head stood the ruthless Ismail Enver Pasha, “Napoleonlık” to his friends. Enver, appointed Minister of War in January 1914, believed himself to be a “man of destiny” divinely chosen to rule a glorious, revived empire.26 Easily the most pro-German of the three, Enver admired German military power and efficiency, a legacy of his service as a military attache´ in Berlin.27 Mehmet Talaat Pasha, appointed

THE PREWAR YEARS

7

interior minister in June 1913,28 was known for his rough, straighttalking manner. Nonetheless, his reputation for moderation earned him the nickname “the Danton of the Turkish Revolution”.29 Also fiercely nationalistic, Talaat later brought a bloody stain to his moderate name through his role in designing and carrying out the Armenian genocide.30 The troika’s junior member, navy minister Ahmet Djemal Pasha, was a mercurial man capable of both graciousness and terrifying cruelty, appropriate qualities for his role as the absolute wartime despot of Syria, Palestine and Arabia, and as commander of military and intelligence operations in the Middle East.31 In the months before the outbreak of World War I, the prime threat to the empire’s security was aggressive Russian expansionism seeking to seize the Ottoman Armenian provinces in the north-east. The new CUP leadership resolved to achieve permanent liberation from such foreign meddling by buying themselves breathing space for internal reform under the protection of a strong European power. Accordingly, the Turks began approaching each of the European powers with alliance proposals throughout 1914.32 All attempts failed. Even the Germans initially shot down an alliance offer made to German ambassador Hans von Wangenheim33 on 22 July. Most top German decision makers – Wangenheim, German military advisory mission chief General Otto Liman von Sanders,34 Foreign Minister Gottlieb von Jagow, to whom the Austro–Hungarians first broached the idea of a Turkish alliance on 14 July, and even the kaiser – had grave doubts about Turkish military strength. In a fateful decision, Kaiser Wilhelm overruled Wangenheim in hopes of creating a Turkish – Bulgarian– Rumanian coalition to place between Austria – Hungary and the oncoming Russians. Even when the Balkan coalition failed to materialize, the Germans tried to enlist the Turks as allies anyway to avoid driving them into the arms of the Triple Entente alliance (Britain, France and Russia).35 The Turks were determined to exploit the Germans’ strategic needs for the maximum benefit possible. One specific condition for German acceptance was a promise from the Turks to “undertake some action against Russia”. To fulfill this condition, Enver offered two dreadnought battleships just built for the Turkish navy by the British (Reshadieh and Sultan Osman I). Wangenheim consequently signed the treaty on 2 August, not knowing as Enver did that the British had already

8

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

confiscated the ships for themselves on 31 July. Just days later, the Turks saved the German warships Goeben and Breslau by “purchasing” them as they fled towards Constantinople pursued by British warships, but not without extracting more concessions: a German promise to help the Turks regain lost territories in the Aegean Sea and the Caucasus region, permanent abolition of the hated capitulations, and the payment of a “war indemnity”. Once again, a score for the Turks at the expense of their German allies.36 With the treaty now signed, all that remained to decide was how and when the Turks would enter the war. Meanwhile, planning for anticipated military operations went full steam ahead.37 The first target: the Suez Canal. The canal constituted the most vital artery connecting the British home islands to India, crown jewel of the British Empire. Sever the canal, and Britain would lose Egypt, a potentially fatal blow.38 Key to taking Egypt were Egyptian Muslims, who, the Germans and Turks gambled, were disgruntled with British rule and ripe for revolt. The AA, tasked with spearheading this campaign, began assembling skilled, experienced agitators to help set Egypt aflame through propaganda, and agents to spy out enemy troop strengths and fortifications. Men like Curt Pru¨fer were made for such covert operations. He had gained tremendously valuable experience through his subversive activities in Egypt. Experience aside, Pru¨fer also possessed the inborn traits of a good spy. The man knew how to manage and manipulate people with a disarming, pleasant manner, to listen and observe carefully, and to win other people’s trust by sympathizing with them and adopting their manner of speaking and thinking. And at all times, the ever chameleonlike Pru¨fer knew how to don different masks to suit different audiences: the suave, well-dressed European expatriate; the roving, Western bohemian traveler; the Arab man on the street.39 These undeniable strengths nonetheless proved wholly inadequate for overcoming the difficulties of running covert operations in an underresourced theater of a global war. The holy war’s directors in Berlin offered Pru¨fer and his colleagues little intelligence and propaganda infrastructure to work with, and poor, sometimes haphazard leadership as well, while their Turkish allies imposed restrictions that frequently hindered or

THE PREWAR YEARS

9

sabotaged their work. Pru¨fer and his colleagues would have to improvise on the fly.40 Pru¨fer very rarely commented on his personal feelings and opinions about the war effort or about the war itself. He only broke his silence just after the end of the war, claiming that “from the beginning onward, I believed [Germany] to be pursuing a war of self-defense”, rather than a war of imperial aggression for territorial gain motivated by what he scorned as “hurrah patriotism”.41 Pru¨fer was a cynical realist, not an imperialist ideologue. He was also a loyal German patriot who, while willing to criticize German leadership and tactics, never doubted the righteousness of the German cause or its people. That cause would compel Pru¨fer to carry out imperialist policies he later openly claimed to despise, an acceptable price, as he saw it, for defending the Fatherland. As Pru¨fer headed for Constantinople in August 1914, these reflections lay four years in the future. For now, as the eventful summer drew to an end, there was business to be done . . .

1914

CHAPTER 1 1914

28 August 19141 Departure from Berlin, 10:00 in the morning. On the train, Richter and H.H. In Dresden, arrival 1:00. Picked up by privy councillor MeyerWaldeck2 and his family, who is related to Mors. There through noon and evening because our train is not going any further. Afternoon, shopping in the city. Arrival of the news about the victory over the British at St Quentin.3 Meyer-Waldeck accompanies us to the train, on which we travel further at 9:30.

29–31 August 1914 Arrival in Vienna4 early in the morning. Received at the embassy by the head of the chancellery. We spend the day in the coffee houses. News of a massive battle in Galicia and Russian Poland without result.5 In Vienna, enthusiastic war sentiment everywhere. In the evening, continued on to Budapest. Arrival on 30 August in the morning. Because the chancellery servant from the general consulate recommended to us was nowhere to be found at first, we missed the train to Bucharest.6 This also resulted from the difficulties in transferring the large baggage. The reception by the general consul Count Friedheim is somewhat cool because he is seemingly offended at having to wait for us at the train station in vain. In the afternoon, outing to Ofen.7 Traveling further on 31 August at 7:35 in the morning. On the Rumanian border, unfriendly attitude among border officials. On the way, we meet several trains which are bringing Austrian troops from the Serbian to the Russian theater of war.

14

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Tremendous enthusiasm. In Bucharest, hostile mood.8 News of the victory at Ortelsburg.9 Rumania is swarming with soldiers.

2 September 1914 Traveling further on to Rustchuk.10 On the train with us: Imperial and Royal11 vice consul Haas, who is going to Salonika.12 At the Bulgarian border, more friendly attitude among the population.13 Arrival in the evening in Sofia.14 On the train, Pfu¨tzner, who is temporarily doing service at the legation. Traveled further on the same evening.

3 September 1914 Midday in Adrianople.15 In the compartment, a Turkish major who spoke very confidently about the prospect of a Turkish intervention in the conflict. Arrival late in the evening in Cospoli.16 Was picked up by the mouche.17 Arrival in Therapia at around 2:00 at night. Received by Privy Councillor Mu¨ller, waiting punctiliously and suspicious. Hotel Tokatlian.

4 September 1914 Early visit to the embassy. Weber,18 Stumm,19 Scharfenberg,20 Haas,21 Wangenheim, Humann,22 Kalisch.23 Scho¨nberg is visiting.24 I have the impression of non-cooperation between the naval rear-echelon command (Humann) and embassy. Contradictory messages. Weber visibly little edified about my presence. At noon with Weber, Scharfenberg also there. Afterwards, long conversation with Scharfenberg in the park. Speaks derisively about our doctrinaire, exaggeratedly moralistic policy. Later with Mors at Humann’s. Wangenheim also there. Impression: scatter-brained, mercurial, easily influenced, responsive. Humann promises a meeting with Enver. Later, conversation with Weber, who comments ill-temperedly about his position and the ambassador. In the evening, at the Tokatlian. Conversation with Laffert,25 Stumm. Nothing new. Turkey – at least Enver in his entourage: Talaat, Halil26 and Djemal (!) – would like to make use of the moment. The grand vizier is hesitating out of fear of England.27 The actual instruments of power for the Turks seem questionable. The Dardanelles are up to this point

1914

15

neither sufficiently armed nor blocked with mines. The VIII Corps28 (Damascus) is in Laffert’s opinion worth as much as a regiment. Here, the purpose seems to consist of precipitating incidents through an action of the Goeben.29 A German escort cruiser, the Hapag, is lying in front of Therapia. Eighty naval officers are in Cospoli.30

5 September 1914 Visit31 to the Ministry of War with Weber and Mosel32 at the office of ¨ mer Fevzi Bey,33 the head of the Department for Egypt and India. O Fevzi comments very unfavorably about the trustworthiness of the khedive34 and the people around him. He means to take care of getting leaflets35 to Egypt in each of the desired amounts. I arrange a meeting with Fevzi in the afternoon for the purpose of discussing the Suez Canal action. Weber also goes with me to Fevzi’s rival, Su¨leyman Askeri,36 whom, however, we don’t find. Enver’s adjutant Kazım Bey37 books me for an interview with Askeri at 2:00 in the afternoon. As I go over things again with Mors as the appointed time approaches, none of the men are present. Fevzi’s adjutant claims that his master had waited for me at 2:00, a time which I did not at all agree to with him. He had obviously heard of my appointment with Su¨leyman, then. At 5:00, Sami Bey,38 who is said to be proceeding to Syria, Egypt and Fezzan39 at the expense of the embassy (150 Turkish lira), visited me. Sami is a former Young Turk revolutionary who, as such, was condemned to death and exiled to Fezzan. Later, he became governor of the Najd40 and then of Fezzan. He asks me to seek to bring influence to bear on the Porte,41 particularly Talaat Bey, to finally let him embark on the journey. He says he can’t get through to Talaat, who is perpetually unavailable to talk. He names for me trusted people in Basra42 (Ali al Muhandis), Qunfudha43 (kaimakam44 Kemal Bey), Jidda45 (port commander Bahyat Bey). Later, Mosel shows up and makes the following statements. He knows from a good source in the house of Djavid Bey46 that a discussion of ministers has taken place (excluding the grand vizier Said Halim and Enver) regarding discussion of the following English proposals:47 removal of the German crew of the Goeben and Breslau; retention of the German military mission; acknowledgement of the purchase of the Goeben and Breslau; demobilization of the greater part of the Turkish army. England assumes responsibility for the guarantee of current Turkish agreements

16

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

against Russia.48 Turkey abstains from any attack on Greece, to whose support England is said to be contractually obligated. In the event of a Greek –Turkish conflict, England would force the Dardanelles. The council of ministers has agreed to accept these proposals, and furthermore have voted that Enver and Halim would be overthrown. After that and in the evening, I drive to the embassy and make report to Weber about Mosel’s statement. Weber skeptical.

6 September 1914 Relocation from Therapia to the Hotel Germania in Pera. I meet Kalisch on the steamer. He suggests that I use the emir49 Ibn Rashid of Najd against the Suez Canal. Ibn Rashid has for some time been adroitly seeking help at the embassy in order to avoid being crushed by the British and their vassal, the Wahhabi shaykh Ibn Sa’ud. He has, however, been granted it reluctantly.50 At the hotel, I meet Shawish. He judges the situation in Egypt pessimistically, as long as Turkey does not take vigorous action. He is volunteering for the selection and sending of emissaries. I drive with ¨ mer Fevzi unfolds the Mors to the Ministry of War afterwards, where O 51 following plan for me. Maghrebis who had carried on weapon smuggling for the Turks during the Tripoli War52 are to form bands at the canal, which would have to attack the canal posts at night and then scatter again by day. He is declaring himself against the plan of sending Turkish officers because Turkey cannot become involved in an open rupture of neutrality at the present time. He judges Shawish to be a gossip whose service is worthless. Ibn Rashid he considers a scheming upstart who wants to make Germany serviceable for his ambitious plans against his rival and former feudal master, Ibn Sa’ud. He likewise offered his services for the transporting of leaflets by means of emissaries. Mosel brings the news of Farid’s53 arrival. Visit to the embassy. Reception at Frau von Wangenheim’s. Italian ambassador54 and wife are there. Dinner with Kalisch and his charming wife. Ambassador is warning me about Mosel. He was formerly master and chair of a Young Turk lodge in U¨sku¨b,55 and has up to now maintained relations with committee members who are under the influence of the French, and who are consciously misleading him, in Wangenheim’s view. About the upshot of yesterday’s council of ministers, there are many rumors being spread around. At any rate, Talaat’s attitude seems doubtful. Only Enver dared to be absolutely pro-German.

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7 September 1914 Reception at Enver’s in his konak56 in Nis¸antas¸ı. Introduced by Humann. Enver explains the same band plan which O¨mer Fevzi had communicated to us. A man of stone. A face immovable, well-formed, beautiful in the feminine sense. Groomed to the point of foppishness. At the same time, an outrageous streak of hardness: “We can be more cruel than the British”. The man wants something, but the something does not come. He recommends to us Su¨leyman Askeri. This one visits us at 3:00 in the afternoon. Explanation of the guerrilla plan. In the evening with Fabricius57 in Petit Jardin.58 Shawish asks for blasting caps with Fuad.59 Therapia, 7 September 1914.60 The Imperial Ambassador to the Foreign Office. “Was received today by Enver Pasha, who unfolded plan for Egyptian action: In every mudirieh,61 some bands of 12 to 15 men each are being formed. At the head of every band is a Turkish or Egyptian officer, the greater number of which are already signed up. Goal is surprise attacks on small military posts, assassination attempts, attacks on railroads, telegraph stations, ships. After the attack, the band has to disperse in order to surface elsewhere for new activity. Leadership of all bands put under command of a central coordinating agency.62 Weapons in the country itself hidden, available, as Enver is well-known from the Tripoli War. In addition, connection is sustained through contrebandiers.63 Intends similar guerrilla action from both sides of the Suez Canal against British station posts. Up to now everything is quiet in Egypt and at the canal. Egyptian troops are deploying to Sudan. For that reason, 10,000 Indian troops allegedly sent to Egypt in return. British warships are said to be cruising in and in front of the canal. Ministry of War taking care of shipment of leaflets. First transport tomorrow. Also, Shawish has offered to stick together with me for the same purpose. He requested speedy transfer of automatic pistols. Without knowledge of the Turkish masterplan, khedive, of whose treachery Enver urgently warned, is supposedly going to be used for incitement of the ghafirs64 in the country.

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Leaflet agitation also inaugurated in the Maghrib, India and Caucasus . . . . . . . . .65 is sought in order to reach Egypt via Alexandria as Egyptian officer. Should I depart for Suez Canal Zone? Pru¨fer.” Wangenheim.

8 September 1914 Su¨leyman Askeri comes and suggests chartering a cement ship in Italy that is supposed to run into the Suez Canal.66 Requests Humann’s support. Mors drives to Therapia to fetch 20 detonators for Fuad’s people. Departs at 5:00 today with Khedivial Mail.67 With him, presumptive band leader (a major) and some Young Egyptians. Talaat to the embassy. Weber lukewarm, Humann comments very derogatorily about the embassy: “First concern after their appointment was their coat of tails”. In the evening with Fabricius in Petit Cercle.68

9 September 1914 Visit with General von Sanders at the Ministry of War. A formal council of war takes place in consultation with a large number of German officers. The general tells me that the VIII Corps has now received the order for deployment around Ma’an.69 Ready in Lieutenant Colonel Von Kress’70 view in about three weeks. From there, at least 14 days march up to the canal. At the mission leader’s, great agitation prevails against the ambassador, who allegedly misinforms Berlin on purpose. Landing on Russian Black Sea coast in Souchon’s71 view feasible only with difficulty because naval resources are not sufficient to protect the transports in all instances. Repeal of the capitulations. Great jubilation in the city. Demonstrations out on the streets.72 We are getting tied in knots through declarations which we have given to the Turks in agreeing to alliance in the hope of their active intervention.

10 September 1914 Shawish comes to me, asks for 400 for the sending of four emissaries to Egypt, two via el Qusayr,73 two via es-Sallum.74 Weber opposed. Sami and Fehmi from the Ministry of the Interior visit. Farid75 met with

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Mosel. Babbler who talks much but will do nothing. Considers the khedive sincere. Further demonstrations about the capitulations. In the evening with Spee,76 Mosel, Fabricius, Kress in Petit Champs.

11 September 1914 Forenoon, to the embassy. Weber tells me that I am superfluous here. Ambassador has received a telegram from Berlin that authorizes him to use me otherwise. He certainly has requested it. Weber very chilly. Lo¨ytved77 telegraphs that he has managed to travel across Egypt with a Danish passport. Not much news. Up through the 7th, no Indians in Egypt.

12 September 1914 Weber promises me that he intends to give Shawish 200 for the despatching of two people via al Qusayr. Around 1:00, I meet him at the Tokatlian. He brings the news that Wangenheim has declined the payment because Enver does not think much of Shawish, and control of every action must remain centralized in Enver’s hands. Wassmuss78 turns up. I have lunch with him and Weber. Has traveled on the route from Bushehr to Germany unhindered through Egypt (Suez-Alex). Is supposed to be participating in the Afghan expedition.79 Doesn’t have a very optimistic opinion about the expedition members. Afternoon, visit with Shawish in Stambul.80 Very disappointed about the refusal of his wishes. Said that Admiral Limpus81 had invited him to dinner. Should Wangenheim decide not to pay Shawish, it will be inviting treason. Evening with Wassmuss at the Tokatlian, then in the club and Petit Champs. At 1:00 at night, Schwedler82 arrives from Egypt, appears at my place at the hotel. Reports: British have removed 4,000-man English force from Suez83 to the south, allegedly to Somaliland;84 40,000 Indians arrived; of these, 30,000 to Marseille; regarding the whereabouts of 20,000, nothing known. In Egypt itself, utter quiet. Only Aziz Hassan85 arrested, but set free again. Telephoned to Riecken86 (Mosel).

13 September 1914 Forenoon, Therapia. Ambassador approves my departure. Afternoon, message to Shawish through Muhammad about the falling through of

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his demand. Weber wants to write to him. With Mosel to Ministry of War to see Fevzi. Discussion about Afghan expedition, which F. will accompany. F. very optimistic. Wants to force passage through Persia with 2,000 Kurds.87 I meet Kress at the ministry. Tells me that the prospects for war equally nil, equally good. Military mission heading to Damascus. Asks for my company. I tell him to meet at the mission there. Two million for bribery of Arabs approved. Sami departs tomorrow with pamphlets in all languages. Visit with Hassan Fehmi. At the hotel, Schwedler. Asks for intervention with Weber in order to get Mu¨ller-Pagwitz’s job. Visit with Fabricius at the club. I read aloud to him a report. Says that Italy has officially declared that it will not be able to remain neutral if the Islamic question is raised.88 Bad news about the fighting at Soissons-Vitry.89 Evening with Wassmuss at the Tokatlian. Says that official news in Therapia is coming from Berlin, that the minister in Peking is reporting: India in uproar. England requested assistance 200,000 men from the Japanese. Promised under conditions: 1). Free hand in China; 2). Unrestricted immigration by Japanese into British colonies.90 England accepts, is summoning Indians from America to Cospoli by telegraph sent out from here. They perhaps are going to process Indians captured in France and summoned here. Indian revolutionaries from Geneva have shown up. At Yanni’s, met three participants in the Afghan expedition. Less than favorable impression (only Herr von Braun, officer, tolerable). Another wire to Alexandria (Eichhorn) concerning Mors to Frau Mors.

14 September 1914 Forenoon, shopping in Stambul. At noon, usual silly meal chatter at the club. Afternoon with Mosel at the Tokatlian. Gives me new, long, Arabic pamphlet about the crimes of the English. To supper with Wassmuss at Wustrow’s.91 Both rather disgusted by the embassy operation. No news from Mors.

15–20 September 1914 Negotiations about my departure. Mors telegraphs, accuses the khedive of treason. Visit with Enver and Liman.

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20 September 1914 Departure92 in the morning to Eskis¸ehir.93 Arrival there early on the 21st. With us: Lieutenant Colonel Kress, Captain von dem Hagen,94 Captain Sterke,95 Lieutenants Wagner96 and Heiden.97 In addition, General Passelt98 and two majors, as well as several Turkish officers and two orderlies (Hamdi and Gemal), as well as naval Lieutenant Hilgendorff99 and orderly.

21 September 1914 Evening in Konya.100

22 September 1914 Noon in the Taurus101 at Belemedik102 there, most friendly reception by the Swiss chief engineer Leutenegger. In the afternoon, outing to the gorge on the way to Dorak103 by auto. Hilgendorff rides with Heiden to Dorak. We obtain no transport animals, and are returning back to Pozantı.104 At 8:00 in the evening, General Passelt and his expedition split off from us beforehand in Pozantı in order to ride to Erzurum.105

23 September 1914 Departure at 5:00 from Pozantı with four persons and six trucks. Am driving through the magnificent Cilician Gates and over the Taurus Pass.106 Road very deficient. Horses good. Noon in Yeni Khan.107 Arrival 7:00 in the evening in Gu¨lek Bog˘azı.108 From there by train (special car) to Adana.109 There at the train station, consul Dr Bu¨ge,110 to whom I deliver message from the embassy. No news about the war. Traveling further at 9:00 to Alexandretta.111 Arrival at 4:00 in the morning.

24 September 1914 Decampment with four persons and five trucks in the morning at 6:15. Noon rest in the malarial village Beilan. Street and wagons pitiful. Driving further through the Syrian Gates up to Kirik Khan112 at 3:00 in

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the afternoon. There, snack and two hours halt. A horse collapses. A driver comes down with the fever. Drive further to khan around al Hammam. There at supper around 11:00. Hilgendorff turns up with Heiden, who had ridden through the Taurus Gorge to Dorak, gone from there by train to Alexandretta, and in turn from there had traveled further on horseback. Both ride after seven hours. Rest further.113

25 September 1914 Decampment around 3:00 in the morning. Midday rest in ‘Afrin’s khan.114 There, Hilgendorff and Heiden show up at noon on totally exhausted horses. Heading on at 12:30. Hilgendorff drives with us. Heiden and Gemal ride. Arrival at 2:00 in Katma.115 Depart from there at 3:00 with special train to Aleppo,116 where we show up at 4:30. Consul Dr Ro¨ssler117 visits us on the same afternoon at the Hotel Baron. In the evening after eating, I go with Hagen into the German club (mess hall). There, among the Germans, no great enthusiasm.

26 September 1914 Stroll with Hagen in the bazaar and to the citadel. Wonderful oriental scenery. Afternoon visit with consul and Kress. Then a drive to shop in the city. Hilgendorff, who earlier departed for Haifa118 in the morning, is pushing a horse to the point of overexertion. To dinner with Kress and the captains and Wagner at the consul’s. Wife amiable but ugly. There also head engineer Mavrokordato119 of the Baghdad Railway. In the evening afterwards until 12:00 at the club.

27 September 1914 Departure by train at 6:00 to Damascus. Noon in Homs.120 Arrival in the evening in Damascus,121 where we stay at the Hotel Victoria. Meeting with Lo¨ytved.

28 September 1914 Forenoon stroll with Hagen in the bazaar. Lo¨ytved introduces me to Shaykh ‘As’ad ash-Shuqayri.122 At general headquarters, delivery of three boxes for Mecca.

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29 September 1914 Visit to general headquarters with the commanding general Zeki Pasha123 and to the vilayet with vali124 Hulusi Bey125 and Nazmi Bey, chief of political police. In the afternoon, visit to ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha Yusuf126 and Shaykh ‘As’ad. Around 6:00, reciprocal visit of the vali and Nazmi Bey. Two Germans from Alexandria arrive, say they are seeing construction. Hilgendorff had no luck in Haifa, and turned himself around towards Jerusalem. Our officers complain about lack of training of the troops, especially the artillery.

30 September 1914 Visit with ‘Abd ar-Rahman. There, the bedouin shaykhs, who are being won over through medals and gifts, assemble together, among them the shaykh of ‘Aqaba127 and a representative of the sharif of Mecca.128 Through the agency of Shaykh ‘As’ad, all have sworn on the Qur’an for the Islamic cause. Dardanelles closed because Turkish ships threatened with bombardment. In the afternoon, long visit once again with Shaykh ‘As’ad.

1 October 1914 Departure at forenoon to Beirut.129 Underway in Lebanon, overall strongly francophile mood. In Beirut, arrival in afternoon (Hotel Deutscher Hof). Visit with Consul von Mutius,130 to whom I am delivering leaflets. Consul visibly anxious, because English bombardment or landing is feared. In the evening come ludicrous reports of Armenian–Egyptian –Italian support corps for the British, overthrow of Enver Pasha, English ultimatum to the Porte, Haifa railway destroyed.

2 October 1914 Forenoon at 10:00, Mutius shows up, as well as dragoman Gargur. Declares danger imminent. Says he has advised departure to all Germans. Compromising papers, including ciphers and pamphlets, burned. I discuss with him fleeing in case of an English occupation, which I consider improbable. Visit to garrison headquarters and to the

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consulate. Consul is traveling at 4:00 to his wife in the Lebanon. I visit the vali, Bakir Sami Bey,131 Circassian,132 stuttering, unfavorable, scatter-brained impression. He advises departure at 11:00 in the evening. Promises to get for me a spot, because of great crush of refugees. Asserts he has requested 5,000– 6,000 men for the Lebanon. Beirut would not be defended. “On vous de´teste´ ici cordialement”.133 News about setting-up of a military dictatorship in Egypt confirmed. Khedive is protesting. In the hotel, Emir ‘Arslan,134 Druze135 prince with Russian consul. ‘Abd el ‘Al and Shirkawi have not shown up. Bashir registered by sleight-of-hand. Calm hotel owner, Unger. At 11:00 at night, departure in overflowing train. In the car: Zeki Hakkı Bey. Merchant from Beirut, nephew of ‘Izzat Pasha al ‘Abid.136 Seems pro-German.

3 October 1914 Arrival in Damascus in the morning. Return to the hotel. Afternoon visit with ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha and Shaykh ‘As’ad. The latter says of vali of Beirut: he is a relative of Abuk Pasha, who had been involved in the military coup in Chatalja137 and now lives in Beirut. He supposedly is maintaining further suspicious relations with Michel Sursuq138 (he is a gambler and owes him) and has installed the francophile community leader from Beirut. He is doing nothing to oppose the chicanery of the Christians in Lebanon. We have to work through Kress towards getting ¨ mer Fevzi Bey sends word that he has made it to him dismissed.139 O ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha in Aleppo. Kress comments about the military capabilities of the VIII Corps and especially the XII Corps140 of Mosul,141 whose commander142 has arrived in Aleppo. Made a reconnaissance trip with Zeki Pasha as far as Zahleh.143 Lebanon in his opinion still impassible for hostile troops. Visit of businessman Halim.

4 October 1914 ‘Ahmad Bey Yusuf, brother of ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha, Shaykh ‘As’ad, his nephew, who is a military doctor, and the mufti144 of Haifa145 turn up at my hotel. The mufti is supposed to travel to Egypt and send leaflets across fixed in the bindings of Qur’ans, and send intelligence from Egypt. Impression not entirely favorable. ‘Abd ar-Rahman has traveled

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to Ma’an to the bedouins. There also, Mu¨mtaz Bey,146 Enver’s adjutant, who is supposed to be organizing guerrilla detachments. Sabih Bey, Zeki Pasha’s chief of staff, is driving to Beirut. Afternoon excursion with Hagen in front of Bab Tuma, the Christian and Jewish quarter. Visit with the consulate deputies Schieffer and Ekrem,147 Wagner and Heiden, who have rented a house in the Christian quarter.

5 October 1914 Forenoon visit with Shaykh ‘As’ad. At noon, Schieffer148 with me. After meal, I go with him to Kress. In front of the headquarters, Schieffer shows me some hundred boxes, which have lain there for weeks in the sun. The boxes contain dynamite! It is the cargo of the Peter Rickmer,149 which lies in Beirut harbor. Kress shows me with irritation a letter from the embassy in which he is questioned about a claim of Hilgendorff’s regarding approximately 60,000 marks in debt incurred in Jerusalem.150 He is further requested to make a refund of the 600 Turkish pounds remitted in marks. Answers: absolutely not. Kress in the evening invited out by ‘Ali Pasha,151 uncle of Algerian ruler ‘Abd al Qadir.152 Doesn’t count as completely reliable. Kress gives me full authorization to pay mufti of Haifa 300. Shaykh ‘As’ad appears in evening, drinks with me substantially large amounts of cognac, takes 100, as well as written instructions for the mufti as a receipt. At the door, he overdoes everything in comparing the value of his nephew to the mufti, who is supposed to leave on the following morning to Nablus to the soap merchants153 for the time being.

6 October 1914 Visit with ‘As’ad, who butters me up in a disgusting manner. The mufti has left. The German canal expedition (Kaufmann, Frank, Wieland)154 has shown up in Petra.155 In the afternoon, the corps commander already assigned to me earlier by Mutius, Faik Pasha,156 is with me and Kress. Ready for operation against canal without the government. Reports about indiscretions in high command. Had learned about all our plans through his wife. ‘Abd ar-Rahman is a conceited fool. ‘As’ad a babbler without influence. Mu¨mtaz a soft, incompetent, ignorant Turk.

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Fears treason in regards to our plans towards England. In evening, farewell dinner with Kress. Halid Bey and Ekrem invited.

7 October 1914 Kress, Sterke and engineer Bastendorff (a Luxemburger)157 travel to Ma’an. ‘As’ad comes out to me. I tell him pretty roughly my opinion about the indiscretions at the high command. ‘As’ad departs visibly peeved. Afternoon. Letter from Mutius that ‘Abd el ‘Al and Shirkawi are on their way. Likewise Herr Kalckreuth with a letter of Oppenheim’s. Stroll with Hagen to the suburb of Midan.158 In the evening, farewell party. Lengthy edict from Liman about indiscretions with the mission officers. O. Fevzi is in Damascus gathering Kurds.

8 October 1914 Early departure to Haifa with ‘As’ad, 6:30. On the way, ‘As’ad tells me that Shirkawi and ‘Abd el ‘Al had been carrying on weapons and tobacco smuggling in Beirut. They had also been helping people to illegally emigrate to America. On his advice, they had been ordered by the government to officially fight weapons smuggling in Lebanon, and at the same time, the privilege of tobacco smuggling had been given to them. During the Laamarkaziyeh movement in Beirut,159 ‘As’ad entrusted them with the assassination of the instigator of the disturbance. They had accomplished this mission satisfactorily. Unfortunately, though, they were locked up shortly thereafter by the imbecilic vali because the servant of the murdered man was suspicious. He, As’ad, had them set free afterwards and had obtained the Iftihar medal160 for them in Constantinople against Talaat’s will. Grumbled a lot about Talaat, whom he saved during the Jerusalem excavation scandal in parliament,161 not to mention Djavid, Djemal. Also, he seems to think differently about Enver than what he says. Praises Abdu¨lhamid. Arrival in Haifa, 7:30, Hotel Carmel.

9 October 1914 Forenoon visit to Consul Lo¨ytved. Meet there German businessman from Haifa who was in Germany but, however, has returned from Italy via

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Egypt. On 6 October in Alexandria, several British warships. In Port Sa’id,162 six to eight transport ships with British and Indian soldiers. Several English and French warships. No portent, for example, fidgety inspection of passports, only this in Alexandria, no inspection in Port Sa’id whatsoever. Lo¨ytved has the following plan from an engineer: mine of 40 kg of dynamite with a time fuze will be manufactured, which is being brought floating to Port Sa’id by a melon boat, and there, is supposed to be driven against British cruisers by a local German mechanic. Two more mines of 15 kg each are supposed to be anchored in the canal. News here about the bloody clash in Sudan between British and Egyptian military.163 Agence Ottomane164 reports the same from Cairo and Alexandria. Antique sale (glasses). Afternoon excursion on Carmel by car. Beautifully situated German hotel (Karmelheim).165 In the evening, with Lo¨ytved and his wife. Sharp dispute about Moritz.166 Lo¨ytved not very deep, but still meditative and fearless in judgement.

10 October 1914 Forenoon with Lo¨ytved. There, a businessman, representative of Austrian Lloyd167 and smuggler. Later, engineer Frank. Excellent impression. Brother with Wieland and Kaufmann contra the Canal. Frank lays out his plan for a mining action against the Canal. One or two mines should be fixed to the keel in a melon boat, brought to the canal and anchored:168 (a) quicksilver contact; (b) floating mass; (c) electric dry battery; (d) line cable; (e) mine. Dynamite and blasting caps available here. Egyptian ‘Abd el Hamid Effendi169 receives 14 in the morning to travel to Alexandria and come back in 14 days, bringing back news, especially about Mors and the nationalists. Afternoon, walk in the city of Haifa. Around evening, with Lo¨ytved for beer. Eating at the hotel. Afterwards, conversation with Amin Taj Effendi about the Hijaz Railway. Turkish engineer, pro-German.

11 October 1914 Departure 6:00 early with Lo¨ytved to Afuleh.170 From there by car to Jenin.171 Received there by members of the powerful Nablus-area family of ‘Abd el Hadi,172 and Hafiz Pasha, chief of the family; Qasim Bey,173

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old, worthy friend of Germany, whose son was brought up entirely German; ‘Amin Bey, deputy, incorruptible in Lo¨ytved’s opinion and pro-German. Latter at table in the hotel belonging to the family. Praises vali of Beirut. Driving farther with auto one hour via Sabastiyyeh and Sileh174 to Nablus. Arrival there 6:00. Hotel of the Hapag. German landlord, Hasselschwerdt. Director of Palestine Bank,175 Fallscher, and his wife, welcome us. News about the fall of Antwerp176 and the death of the king of Rumania.177 After the meal, Shaykh Muhammad Murad, mufti of Haifa, shows up with his brother ‘Ahmad, a clerk at the municipality of Nablus. The mufti has sent two people to Egypt so far. He himself wants to travel via the Port Sa’id– Suez route as a hajji.178 Says he considers book smuggling impractical.

12 October 1914 Forenoon visit to the German Palestine Bank with Fallscher. There the mufti of Nablus shows up. Shaykh Nimr ad-Dari179 and large entourage. Explains that as long as the result is not certain, the people would not want war. After lunch, visit from Muhammad Murad. He says that he wants to travel to Haifa the next day. His envoys are Shaykh Geridli and a certain Shaykh Yusuf. Around 3:00, visit to the municipality to the ra’is al baladiyeh,180 Hassan Hamad.181 Hesitant, not bellicose. Around 6:00, visit at the Fallschers. Then, hotel.

13 October 1914 Fallscher shows up at the hotel. Visit to the bank, then to the Samaritans. Afternoon, excursion in the auto to Jacob’s Well and Jotham’s Rock.182 Then visit with Fallscher. There, ‘Abd al Fattah Effendi Touqan,183 who was in Egypt (soap merchant),184 and is volunteering his services. Favorable impression. Afterwards, Fallschers at the hotel at table with us. Later, ‘Abd al Hadi shows up, and Shaykh ‘Omar. The latter ready for the intelligence organization and probably also capable.

14 October 1914 Return drive to Haifa from 7:15 to 6:30 in the evening via Samarin,185 squalid Jewish colony. Lunch there in Hotel Graff.

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15 October 1914 Visit to Lo¨ytved. News that Hajj Bashir al Bana is underway towards Haifa. From the mufti of Haifa and both of the Beiruters, nothing. Visit with L. to Frank. Mine ready in four days, weighing 35 kg. On the way back, we meet the representative of the Khedivial Mail. Lange reports: arriving by steamer day before yesterday is Muhammad Fahmi, master of ceremonies of the khedive, who has traveled through to Port Sa’id and has stated that if intended attack against the citadel in Cairo186 succeeds, he would send a courier to Haifa and request a further report by telegraph to Cospoli. Aboard Saidieh,187 two (?) Germans have been captured after being betrayed to ship commissioner Muhammad ‘Ali. Traitor was a ship carpenter. I am warning Lo¨ytved. Bourse E´gyptienne188 from the 10th reports: in the canal, minesweeping has taken place, so it has been closed for some hours. Now free for ship traffic. In the Cairo citadel, a blaze occurred in the weapons magazine: some 1,000 damage. Courtmartial. Investigation. In the afternoon, excursion with Herr and Frau Lo¨ytved to ‘Akka189 by auto. On the way back, we meet Shaykh ‘As’ad, Tahsin Bey and the commander of ‘Akka at the train station of Haifa. ‘As’ad is without news of Muhammad Murad. Shirkawi and ‘Abd el ‘Al are supposed to show up this evening. Lo¨ytved considers Lange unreliable. Geridli praised by ‘As’ad as Greek-killer. In the evening, at table with Lo¨ytved.

16 October 1914 Visit with Lo¨ytved. There, ‘Asad, Tawfiq Effendi,190 ‘Abd el ‘Al, Shirkawi, Abiduh Inzidar (Beirut), and ‘Ali Effendi (out of Tarabulus191) show up, declare themselves ready for the mining operation. One of them (‘Ali Effendi) is supposed to travel to the canal beforehand to scout it out. ‘As’ad says mufti of Haifa arrived, asks for support of our furlough request with the Shaykh al Islam.192 Lo¨ytved telegraphs the embassy accordingly. Kaimakam of Haifa has gone to Beirut to complain about Lo¨ytved to the vali. He is not the police of the German consul. At table, ‘Amin Taj declares himself in favor of the war with Russia, against war with England. Is traveling tomorrow morning to Medina. Afternoon meeting with ‘As’ad and Tawfiq Effendi at Lo¨ytved’s. ‘As’ad suggests concerning the costs of the mining operation: immediate expenditure for

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ship 35, for landing about 150. Remuneration on success, 5,000 for cruiser, 2,500 for commercial steamer; expenses in case of lack of success, decoration still given anyway. In the evening with Lo¨ytved in beer pub. There, Frank, board of works member Schumacher,193 three clergymen, engineer Finkelstein.194

17 October 1914 Early 6:00 departure to Afuleh by train with ‘Amin Taj, then by auto past Jenin. Sileh to Nablus. Arrival, 5:30. Hesselschwerdt furious because we telegraphed not him but Fallscher instead concerning the auto. Herr and Frau Fallscher visit me. Remind Fallscher of Shaykh ‘Omar and ‘Abd al Fattah Touqan. Promises report to Lo¨ytved.

18 October 1914 7:00 in the morning, drive onwards to Jerusalem. Noon in Khan al Lubban.195 Arrive in Jerusalem196 at 5:00 in the afternoon, Hotel Fast.197 Visit with General Consul Schmidt.198 German colony is gathering together there. In the evening, meet two Fast brothers at the hotel.199 Says that third brother with Hilgendorff.

19 October 1914 Forenoon visit at general consulate to division commander Zeki Bey. Lady’s man and bridge player.200 Visit to ‘Omar Mosque and ‘Aqsa.201 With Schmidt at the general consulate. Afternoon, Church of the Holy Sepulchre202 with Fast. Mount of Olives hospice203 accompanied by Schmidt and wife with Sister Superior Theodora Barkhausen.204 In the evening, Kress and Sterke show up unexpectedly at the hotel. Their border reconnaissance unsatisfactory. Mu¨mtaz is a failure, has only raised up at most 1,500 bedouins, and these unreliable at that. Hilgendorff is being kept in custody by gendarmes in Hafir al ‘Awja,205 preventing him and his comedy troupe from crossing the border.

20 October 1914 Visits with Kress and Sterke to the general consulate and the division commander. Then, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Church of the

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Redeemer (tower), and Haram ash-Sharif. To lunch with Zeki Bey. Afternoon, Mount of Olives,206 Sister Theodora. Towards the evening at the general consulate. From Liman, an order of H.M.’s207 arrives that Hilgendorff is being attached to the military mission, and should be utilized in Damascus or Jerusalem. Third Fast brother shows up from Beersheba,208 towards which Hilgendorff and his band have also traveled. There goes forth an order of Kress’ to travel to Jerusalem. Bourse E´gyptienne reports that Mors is arrested and being placed before a war court.

21 October 1914 Early 8:30 departure by auto from Jerusalem with Kress and Sterke. Noon in Bireh,209 rencontre210 with supply unit whose commander Kress is going to report because of carelessness. Arrival 6:30, Nablus, Hotel Hesselschwerdt. After evening meal, visit with Fallscher. Soap merchants have failed. Kress is approving mining project. Return 9:00. Departure 11:00. In the evening, by auto to Sileh. Arrival, 2:00 at night. Drove further at 5:00 in the morning by train.

22 October 1914 Arrival 7:00 Afuleh. There, ‘Amin Bey ‘Abd al Hadi and his brother ‘Abd al Hadi.211 Kress and Sterke are driving to Damascus, I by auto to Haifa, where I arrive around 11:00 in the afternoon. Visit to the consulate. Consul Lo¨ytved and Shaykh ‘As’ad are going away to Damascus.

23 October 1914 Forenoon visit to consulate. Then, I will call back to the hotel, where Tawfiq Effendi ‘Abd ‘Allah is expecting me. He reports: Hajj ‘Ali Kayyal, Khalil ‘Abd el ‘Al and ‘Ahmad Shirkawi as well as Abiduh Inzidar are in Damascus. Hajj ‘Ali has sent to Port Sa’id a certain Hajj Rahha, who is expected back as soon as possible. The mufti traveled yesterday to Nablus via Samarin. He still has not received a leave of absence. Through kavass212 Muhammad, I will then send for Hajj Bashir al Bana, who is declaring himself ready to travel today to Egypt via

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Jaffa213 as a rapporteur.214 Wants to operate with us in the guise of an apothecary through the medium of a letter code. Receives 40 from me. Mors in front of war court (see enclosure, Bourse E´gyptienne). In the afternoon, I visit Frank. Says that he is already building sheet-metal cofferdam boats for gun transports.

24 October 1914 Departure 6:00 in the morning to Damascus. In Afuleh, Hilgendorff gets in wearing bedouin garb.215 Went on a shooting spree with bedouins and Turkish gendarmes at al ‘Awja. Is submitting to Kress’ order! In Damascus, Professor Moritz and five new officers of the Afghan expedition expelled: Tzschirner, von Braun, von Kalckreuth, Maschmeyer, Freist. In addition, Captain Heibei and Lieutenant Brasch,216 who is carrying with himself the two mines.

25 October 1914 Hagen, Brasch and Hilgendorff travel to Jerusalem. Moritz comments pessimistically about the embassy. Wants to go to Sudan to stir up a revolt in the Sudan, doesn’t know for the time being what he actually wants. Kress would like to be rid of him. Shaykh ‘As’ad visits, with the editor of ‘Ababil,217 who is returning from Egypt and reports the following: Indians 30,000, British 6,000, then 3,000 in Alexandria. Egyptians: 1,300 with Remington guns and equipped with five cartridges each, trenches in Ra’s at-Tin,218 Min and Ramla.219 In addition, a few old heavy guns. At the canal to the east at intervals of 30 km each, an earthwork fitted out with 27.5-inch rapid fire howitzers. Trenches between them. West to east, organized trenches and machine guns. The man is supposed to publish a newspaper in Damascus with our support. Receives for that purpose 7,000 Fr., which is being turned over to Lo¨ytved by Humann for oversight by the doctor sent from the Haifa consulate, Doctor Hoffmann.220 Furthermore, Sharif Bey, excolonel and regimental commander, who, as reporter on public opinion in Damascus, could become important, visited us. Afternoon walk with Heibei and Lo¨ytved in bazaar. At the hotel, Kress brings the news that Enver has unofficially given an instruction to support Hilgendorff’s undertaking as much as possible. Board of works councillor Schumacher

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shows up, to whom Kress gives the task of building cement cisterns. In the evening, I make a visit to ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha. There also ‘As’ad, Inzidar, ‘Abd el ‘Al, Shirkawi and Hajj ‘Ali. The four lay down a list of 19 fida’is221 sent to Egypt, and are said to have spread themselves out there to establish bands which should enter into action at the outbreak of war. Immediate action on my request rejected. Hajj ‘Ali becomes the leader. ‘As’ad insists on the exertion of our influence towards the replacement of the local vali with the vali of Beirut or of Konya. They ask as well that the police chiefs of Beirut and Damascus will be confirmed. The mining plan is passed on to Shirkawi and ‘Abd el ‘Al.

26 October 1914 Forenoon visit at the bank with Schieffer. There, Dr Hoffmann and von Braun, who’s departing to Aleppo. Hoffmann: the vice consul at Tripoli. Letters from Oppenheim and Fanny. Walk in the Jewish quarter with Heibei. Around eveningtime, visit from Hajj ‘Ali and Inzidar. Present list of 22 criminals222 who are ready to take action in Egypt after being pardoned. ‘As’ad is departing in the morning. Kress fully approves an undertaking. In the evening, editor of the Muhajir,223 a slimy Algerian, visits us. In the evening, news of the advance of the Wahhabis in Medina.224 New quarreling between Ibn Rashid and Ibn Sa’ud.

27 October 1914 Forenoon negotiation with Zeki Pasha and Sabih Bey regarding the command over the despatching of Hajj ‘Ali’s criminals. Little enthusiasm. Zeki lets me monitor, as he himself suggests. Sabih says that the Circassian225 Ashraf Bey226 with 30 komitajis,227 Rumelians,228 stand ready in Jaffa to travel to Egypt.229 Is being ordered here. Moritz is supposed to go with an officer and a shaykh to al Wejh,230 and from there to Jidda by ship in order to influence the Sudan. Faik visits Kress around evening time. He procures Moritz’s escort. Zeki and Sabih at table with us. Sabih declares himself to be in favor of our criminal search and to obtaining their pardon. News comes in that two transports with English or Indians had passed through the canal in the southerly direction. English said to have evacuated el ‘Arish,231 destroyed wells and laid land mines around the wells.232

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28 October 1914 Forenoon visit to Faik Pasha with Lo¨ytved. Faik speaks strongly against Sharif Bey: corrupt, treasonous. With Faik, Shaykh ‘As’ad Sahib (Naqshbandi dervish), who is being sent to Cairo to the takiya233 there. Afternoon visit from Shaykh ‘Abd al Galil ad-Dera, skilful speaker. ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha pessimistic about ‘As’ad Sahib. Inzidar and ‘Ahmad Shirkawi show up with Hajj Muhammad Rahha, who has returned from Egypt bringing news. Unfavorable impression. Kress gets order from Enver in Constantinople in agreement with the ambassador to hand over the available money to Zeki Pasha. At the same time, it is inquired whether the VIII Corps is ready to march. In the evening, Sharif Bey with me. Bairam.234

29 October 1914 Forenoon visit with Kress to vali Nazim Faik, ‘Abd ar-Rahman, Mir ‘Ali, Sabih. Around 11:00, Sabih shows up, and Zeki. Sabih requests that he be allowed to wait a week up to his return with the affair of the criminals. He is leaving tomorrow. Ashraf Bey, though, is being instructed to place himself completely under my command. Then Wagih el ‘Ayyubi shows up and apologizes that a part of our leaftlets ¨ mer Fevzi had brought him in Damascus and Beirut are that O circulating. He has given a copy to the vali, Zeki Pasha, and to the police commander. On the other hand, Bashir al Bana has shown the sheets which he received for transport to Egypt to people, among them a suspected Young Indian, who showed them, as a certain ‘Abd ‘Allah Bey hinted at, to the British consul. Also in Beirut the sheets are said to be circulating. Kress lays before me his report to Liman, according to which the money is delivered in part, but the biggest part is being retained and Lo¨ytved and Schmidt will remit it to me. It’s leading to bitter, written complaints about the ambassador.

30 October 1914 Visit with Sharif to Muhammad al Bassam,235 says war has broken out between Ibn Sa’ud and Ibn Rashid. Ibn Sa’ud paid by English. Husayn Pasha’s position in Mecca doubtful. He is robbed, though, by vali Vehib

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Bey of all power.236 Ibn Rashid’s help is not to be counted on, since he is tied up by Ibn Sa’ud. Despite Ibn Sa’ud possessing a battery of mountain guns which he seized one year ago in al Hasa,237 Ibn Rashid is the stronger. Report arrived from Egypt says that the total force of the British is not more than 11,000 men. At maximum, half stand at the canal. From Calcutta, a letter that implies that revolt has broken out. In the afternoon, another report arrives that the Russian fleet has attacked the Turkish fleet in the Black Sea.238 Russians have been hit with losses. Wagih el ‘Ayyubi arrives and informs me that he has to go to ¨ mer Fevzi is still sitting with his force, including Aleppo, where O Captain Rauf Bey.239

31 October 1914 Moritz is leaving today with Halid Effendi under the name Sami Effendi to al ‘Ula.240 Visit with Kress to headquarters. There in the afternoon, bombardment of Odessa and Sevastopol241 and the destruction of two Russian cruisers. Visit from Shaykh Kuzbari, who had embossed the word of 300 million Muslims during the visit of the kaiser.242 Visit of Muhammad al Bassam who offered his services. In the evening, invitation to ‘Asfar.243 There, German officers, vali and commanding general Djemal Bey.244 I sit between the daughters.

1 November 1914 Forenoon visit to Faik Pasha where I with Shaykh Kuzbari and his brother work on a speech to the troops. Visit from komitaji Ashraf Bey from Jaffa. Superb impression. Receives pistols, says he has 60 men at his disposal for the canal attack. Advises against Shirkawi’s band, etc. Furthermore, Egyptian Kazim Effendi shows up. Is sent by me with 25 to Egypt in order to agitate. News arrives of the bombardment245 of ‘Aqaba.

2 November 1914 The Porte declares war246 on Russia and the rest of its allies. Consuls are detained as hostages. No enthusiasm at all in the city. Vali is full of anxiety. Zeki Pasha and Sabih Bey are hanging about in Beirut and

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Baalbek. The Algerian Tuhanir is engaged for 30 to allow his paper Muhajir to appear daily. Visit of the director Dieckmann247 and engineer Cardo and Tawfiq Bey about the Hijaz Railway. Habib Lutfallah248 is at the hotel, is chatting up Kress. Declares himself anti-British. He is a spy who’s fallen into it through stupidity, and there are mitigating circumstances.

3 November 1914 Visit with Faik Pasha, who requested about 30 in personal support (!) and recommended in a suspicious manner a post office director who had been expelled. British unsuccessfully attack the Dardanelles. Second bombardment of ‘Aqaba. In the evening, three Turkish officers from the artillery with us. Staff doctor Jungels249 shows up. Damascus, 3 November 1914.250 Highly revered Herr Minister Oppenheim! With most humble thanks, I acknowledge to you the receipt of your three letters of 1, 2 and 31 October, together with enclosures and the sending of weapons delivered to me by Herr von Kalckreuth. At the same time as this, I had a report about my recent activities sent to Berlin. I don’t dare hand over important communications to the post office. The previous local corps commander Faik Pasha, who is traveling to Constantinople, is seeing to this correspondence. Should my detailed report not make it to you because the ambassador does not consider its dissemination advisable for security reasons, I may assure you just that much that I was enthusiastically active in the spirit of what was discussed in Berlin. In every country that I have visited, I have established connections that extend far over the borders of those countries. With Bassam, things stand well. He is rendering us good services. Ibn Rashid is our friend, Ibn Sa’ud the opposite. Also, Sharif Husayn is English through and through, but luckily powerless and in our hand. An encroachment of Ibn Sa’ud’s on Medina is unlikely. All the same, Ibn Rashid is so thoroughly preoccupied with him that he is no longer worth considering for our expedition. Sayyid al ‘Idrisi251 is likewise English. Submissiveness has been displayed only in Constantinople in order to deceive.

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Some brotherhoods have been won over for us, and have sent people (Naqshbandi in particular). The ‘Abd al Qadirs are likewise won over, although I do not trust them completely, particularly Mir ‘Ali. The most suitable is probably Mir Sa’id. The Muhajir we allow to appear daily from today onwards. The publisher, Shaykh Tuhanir, is with me daily. The Indians are supposed to have left Beirut. Of the Afghan expedition, you also don’t hear anything very good here. Four of the men (Maschmeyer, Freist, Tzschirner and von Braun) are now busy in the VIII Corps sector as the head people. Whatever else is otherwise left of the expedition is lingering in Aleppo. Seems to me that the key to all mischief is the lack of subordination and an appropriate leader. The ‘Isma’ilis here have no good reputation. They are as good as English and have little sympathies for the Orthodox. If I report seldom and inconsistently, it is not due to lack of good intentions. I dare entrust no important intelligence to the local post office because I have serious grounds for mistrust. I have not yet received pay up to now. My further invoice I will hand over to General Consul Schmidt in Jerusalem, because I would not like to give it over to the post office. In conclusion, I would like to most humbly request the permission from the Foreign Office to be allowed to accompany the expedition of the VIII Army Corps.252 The chief of staff, Baron von Kress, is thoroughly agreed to it. I am permitted to request the favor of a decision by telegraph. With repeated thanks and the sincerest greetings, I am, most revered minister, Your most humble Dr Pru¨fer

4 November 1914 Faik gets 30 from me. I ask him to intervene with Humann for the purpose of obtaining dismissal of Sabih Bey, whom Kress considers to be working for England. He promises me this. Letter arrives from Bashir al Bana in Port Sa’id. Vague. Jungels, dreadful Swiss man, persuades Kress to ask for two lieutenants, Captain von Fischer253 and a Herr Schwindt, who have stayed behind from the Afghan Expedition in Aleppo. I don’t think much at all of the Afgh. people at all, especially Tzschirner.254

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¨ mer Fevzi, Rauf Bey and Wassmuss All are vain, greedy and chatty. O departed from Aleppo. Wassmuss’ relationship with the members of the expedition is totally ruined. Braun is summoned back to Constantinople. Frank arrives here from Sinai. Confirmed evacuation of ‘Arish and an-Nakhl.255 Will go back for reconnaissance.

5 November 1914 Bassam comments very snidely about vali, Zeki, and those he consorts with. States camels could be mass-recquisitioned. Third attempted English landing at ‘Aqaba failed. In the evening with Jungels, Heibei, Sterke and Tzschirner. Walk in the city.

6 November 1914 Negib ‘Abd ‘Allah comes to me with letter from Shaykh ‘As’ad. He asks for weapons for the ‘Akka people. Receives three pistols. Lo¨ytved communicates by letter that 20 transports with Australians and Indians had passed Port Sa’id. Habbal256 has received allowance for ‘Ababil, is employed by me with a 50 monthly subsidy. Letter about it to Lo¨ytved. Austrian general consul Ranzi visits me. Points out the rabble-rousing in Tripoli of Mir Sa’id. Suggests sending Algerian prisoners257 to Algeria with orders to rabble-rouse. Around eveningtime, visit from Shaykh al ‘Ayyubi. There, both his sons and Shukri Pasha.258 Holy war has been declared. Wagih al ‘Ayyubi tells me that a house search has taken place in the English and French consulates.259 In the latter were found the papers which were compromising for Mir ‘Ali. After protest of the American consul, one room, however, was outrageously left unopened. After dinner, visit from ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha, who tomorrow is traveling to Ma’an to lead the Beni Sakhr, Beni ‘Atiye and Howaytat260 against ‘Aqaba. Also, Cardo, Muchtar Bey261 from the Hijaz Railway (suspicious!) and Amin Taj turned up. Dieckmann has returned from Beirut. Later, two Indians, brothers, show up, who earlier in Beirut had led a training group: ‘Abd as-Sattar and ‘Abd al Jabbar al Khairy.262 The people are directed by the embassy to Hijaz in order to influence Indians and Egyptians from that location outward. Intelligent impression. Through the dragoman Gargur, they say that they have pointed out to von Mutius an Indian Anglophile living in Beirut who

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has reported their suspicious presence and relations with the consulate to the English consul Cumberbatch.263 They’re departing early tomorrow for Medina.

7 November 1914 Forenoon visit with Bassam, with whom I arrange a rendezvous in the evening. Zeki and Sabih returned yesterday evening. In a message from the English consul in Haifa to the consul in Jerusalem, it emerges that this one was informed of Lo¨ytved’s and my trip to Nablus. At the same time, a list of anglophile Muslims from Nablus is given. In the evening, Bassam shows up. He declares himself ready for the procurement of camels. Expresses concerns because of English machinations around Basra through Talib Bey.264

8 November 1914 Kress is notifying us at the request of Zeki and Djemal, who could not find the guts to let the British and French consuls depart. At the same time, they are being informed that a bombardment of the coastal cities would lead to Turkish reprisals against the British and French subjects in Syria. In the hotel are six Russian consuls.

9 November 1914 Agitation among the Christians about the disclosure regarding the consuls. El Mufid (editor ‘Abd el Ghani)265 opened in Damascus. In the evening, Lo¨ytved arrives. Frank II will come back from Aleppo on 11/12 to proceed on his reconnaissance with Wagner started by Hilgendorff’s people. Tsingtao fallen.266 Visit to Ashraf who wants to leave with 150 people. At Ashraf’s also, Sabih Bey, who wants to set the prisoner ‘Ali Kayals free.

10 November 1914 Bassam has assignment to buy 2,000 pack camels. Afternoon walk with Tzschirner and Heibei in the city. Dr Hoffmann from Haifa is assigned as major to the corps. In the evening, visit from Hajj ‘Ali, ‘Abd el ‘Al

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and Shirkawi. Greatly cooled off. Considers operation in boats hardly feasible. Frank I shows up. Mine finally ready.

11 November 1914 Afternoon, camel merchant Na’if, minion of Sabih’s, intrigues against Bassam. At the general headquarters, behaved in the most insolent manner in my presence towards Kress, whom he accused of corruption. Kicked out. Lo¨ytved is visiting the spiritual leaders in order to calm them down concerning the rumors about massacres of Christians.

12 November 1914 Ashraf is instructed by Frank about the mine. Received from Kress 30 hecins267 and 100 men. ‘Abd al Hamid al Yusuf is returning from Egypt with important intelligence, is immediately engaged for his trip to Port Sa’id. Mors268 in penitentiary. In the evening, ‘Abd el ‘Al, Shirkawi and Hajj Ali visit me, explain: weapons being scraped together in Lebanon to be used for weapons smuggling into Egypt.269

13 November 1914 Visit with Lo¨ytved to ‘Ayyubi, mufti, Sa’id Pasha (Mizrahi). ‘Asfar. Holy war finally declared.270 The dragomans of the enemy states are exiled to Caesarea.271

14 November 1914 Visit to the Italian consul and then with Kress, who during a maneuver met with an accident and broke loose two teeth. Bassam tells me that Sabih, who by the way is also balking at a peaceful disarming of Lebanon, does not wish a proceeding against Na’if because of the slandering of Kress. Evening, at table: Sharif Bey. Wagih tells me that the private property of the Russian consul is sold because he owes the government 3,000. Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali272 has conversation with me. I give to Muchtar Bey my three cashbox reports for Cospoli. Major Welsch, Lindemann273 and Sprotte274 show up. They confirm Turkish victories in the Black Sea. Goeben has begun the bombardment of Sevastopol.

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15 November 1914 Demonstrations by the committees in front of the baladiye,275 vilayet, mushiriyeh276 and the consulates. Schieffer and Lo¨ytved talk. Forenoon, church (Pastor Moderow).277 Demonstrations,278 about 6,000 people.

16 November 1914 Departure with Moderow, Madelen Beck, Hubke Keller and a third child Elli (?) to Afuleh. The others are going to Haifa, I to Sileh. Arrival 1:00 at night. Drove further four hours in the auto in the rain and cold with Turkish Arab279 colonel to Nablus. Arrival 5:00 in the morning.

17 November 1914 In Nablus, Hagen and ‘Ahmad Midhat Effendi, colonel. In the evening, visit from Fallscher’s family and Dr Habib Salam. Adventure with rabbit. In the night, Welsch shows up with three gentlemen. Hilgendorff imprisoned in ‘Arish.

18 November 1914 Departure for Jaffa in the auto, 7:00 in the morning. On the way, a hodja280 gets in as far as Qalqilyeh.281 Arrival at Jaffa at 4:00 in the afternoon. Visit with Consul Bro¨de,282 who is with me towards evening. Talks sarcastically about Lo¨ytved-Hardegg (windbag). Has applied for posts in conquered Egypt.

19 November 1914 Visit with Bro¨de to commander Hassan Bey.283 Has sent off 168 bandits for Ashraf. He complained about the mutessarif284 of Jerusalem, who, contrary to orders from Damascus has given a Russian doctor from Jerusalem (Dr Severin)285 the permission for a trip home. Bashir al Bana shows up from Port Sa’id. In the afternoon, outing to Sarona with Bro¨de. Visit with community leader La¨mmele, then in German beer hall. In the evening with Bro¨de. There, later, Ku¨bler.286 German merchant and Spanish consul, Hassan Bey and bowlegged bedouin chief ‘Arif Effendi.

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Hassan requests the surrender of 70 Mausers for his 400-man militia, with which he intends to defend Jaffa.

20 November 1914 8:00 departure with Bashir and Fast, Sr. to Jerusalem. Arrival noon. There, Major Welsch and Brasch.

21 November 1914 Forenoon visit with consul general Schmidt, Zeki Bey, Austrian consul Kraus. Afternoon outing with Welsch and Brasch to the Mount of Olives. Around evening, Kress with Djemal Bey turn up in an auto. Zeki Pasha is deposed. In his place, Djemal Pasha the navy minister is coming with extended powers. Sabih stays. We get two aviators. Kress has had difficulties with Bassam. Musil,287 who has been sent from Constantinople, has been rushing. Musil is supposed to be going to Jawf288 to establish a bedouin corps. Kress has received a dispatch from Cospoli with inquiry as to whether ‘Abd ‘Allah Mansur or Padel289 are most qualified as consul for Damascus. He has suggested Lo¨ytved. I am appointed to the rank of major.

22 November 1914 Forenoon, church until noon. Engineer al Khalidi290 and Colonel Sabri Bey. Later, Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahman ar-Riad, Indian, appears in order to proffer 20 Indian volunteers. In the evening, long game of skat.

23 November 1914 Departure in auto with Kress and Djemal Bey via Nablus to Sileh. From there by special train to Damascus. Djemal says that Nassem Bey from Jaffa is compromised in the treason affairs of a Dr Hilmi and a certain Mahmud. His bedouin adjutant ‘Arif has been arrested.

24 November 1914 Arrival in Damascus. Visit of Bashir, who is begging for money. Gets two lira and travels to Beirut. In Damascus are three, Kastriner, Simon,

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Wienecke, who want to blow up the petroleum tanks of Ra’s Gemsa.291 Arrival of Schwindt and correspondent Susermann from the Der Lokale Anzeiger.292

25 November 1914 Zeki Pasha said to be going to the main headquarters in Germany. In his place, Goltz293 would come to Constantinople. Tzschirner also requests to intervene for him with Kress, with the result that he is being taken along as Zeki’s adjutant. Kress is very upset about the sending of the new army high command, and especially about the sending of Colonel von Frankenberg294 as chief of staff. In the evening, two Sanussi295 shaykhs visit me. They are supposed to travel home via El Milh in order to speed the Sanussi expedition’s departure out of Sallum. Hopefully, the operation won’t bring in Italy on the side of our opponents. Damascus, 26 November 1914.296 To His Excellency Djemal Pasha, Commander of the 4th Army, Damascus. According to the news received up to 25 November, the British strength on the Suez Canal line is said to consist of the following: the center of the defense is said to be the line between Qantara,297 ‘Isma’iliyeh298 and the Great Basin of the Bitter Lakes.299 The number of troops concentrated in this position is estimated at approximately 12,000 men, British and Indians. There are supposedly two lines of defense, the first of which is to the east, and the second to the west of the canal. The eastern line consists of trenches of riflemen, which run to a distance of a few kilometers from the canal, and armed, according to one communication, with twelve 6-cm guns. The entire line has a length of 30 kilometers. In front of this position, many mines have been placed whose locations have been visibly marked by piles of stones and small red, black and blue flags. After one other communication, which is until now unconfirmed, three fortifications, each armed with two pieces of heavy artillery (15-cm), occur at an unknown distance to the east in front of the canal. An important English encampment is located to the east of Qantara. The principal position of the enemy is to the west of the canal. A small fort, whose artillery is unknown, is built on the heights of the Gabal

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Maryam300 near the station of Shaykh Hanaydak. The interval between this fort and the Great Basin of the Bitter Lakes on one side and the station of al Qantara on the other side, is fortified by trenches and palisades made of wood filled with sand. Most of the 18 pieces of field artillery which are at the disposal of the English on the canal would be put into position in this space. Lake Timsa301 is protected by a small warship stationed there. The force at Suez and its vicinity is composed of nearly 5,000 men, English and Indians, among which there is a considerable number of Egyptians, and a force of 1,000 camel riders of the coastal guards. To the west of Suez, there is a small fort on the heights of the hills located there. Also here, in front of the canal to the east, a line of trenches and mines are fixed. On the 14th of this month, three cruisers and two destroyers were anchored in the port of Suez. One telegraph station is situated north of the city. On the subject of the garrison of Port Sa’id, the information is contradictory. Whereas some claim that Port Sa’id is practically unprotected, the others affirm that a force of 5,000 men is camped near the city. This great divergence is perhaps explained by the fact that in order to hide their actual force, the English are probably carrying out numerous relocations of their troops. On the 18th of this month, two English cruisers, two French cruisers and four destroyers appeared in the port. In front of the various stations, situated at a distance of ten kilometers from each other and guarded by small detachments of Indian troops, some observation towers built of iron have been erected. Two French biplanes, the locations of the hangars of which are not known, and several armored trains are moving about the length of the canal. These trains, which are painted the color of sand, are composed of two cars, armed with two marine cannons of small caliber and two machine guns. Each train contains 100 men. The engine is situated between the two cars. The depots and the magazines of the army are in the rear of ‘Isma’iliyeh to the north-west. A mine depot is located to the north of Qantara. The garrison of Cairo is composed of two English brigades – one yeomanry brigade and two regiments of reserve 6th Lancashire Fusiliers and 9th Manchester – in all, eight battalions of infantry, two regiments of cavalry and two groups of artillery, each group in three batteries with four pieces. Each battalion, whose effectives are between 400 and 800 men, has

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only one single machine gun. Otherwise, two engineering companies and three medical companies are at the disposal of the command. In the shelters at ‘Abbasiyeh,302 one considerable Egyptian force, completely weaponless, is concentrated without the oversight of English troops. Eight cannons of average caliber are placed in the citadel, which is guarded by 2,000 English and 500 Egyptians. One wireless telegraph station has been constructed near ‘Abu Zabal303 in the desert north-east of Cairo. The garrison of Alexandria consists of eight battalions of infantry, very little cavalry and three companies of fortress artillery which would serve the guns in the forts of Kum an-Nadoma, Kum ad-Dikkeh, and in the field fortifications built near the wireless telegraph station at ‘Abathy–Ramla. The cities of Damietta304 and el ‘Aboukir305 are equally protected by some small English detachments. Near ‘Abu ‘Akhdar306 to the east of Zagazig307 is a small, Egyptian force of about 500 armed men without the command of English officers. All the bridges and gangways are guarded by platoons of six English soldiers. Numerous patrols move about along the railway. On the second day of Bairam, a large number of transports having on board 25,000 Indian soldiers left the port of Suez. These ships were conveyed to Kassen in order to remain there, probably for the purpose of making an attack on ‘Aqaba–Ma’an after the departure of Ottoman troops for the canal. The sentiments of the Egyptians, with the exception of the Copts,308 are clearly anglophobic. Nevertheless, there is quite little probability that disorders will burst out, until the Egyptians see the fortune of arms turn to the Ottoman side. The Egyptians do only possess a small number of rifles in Upper Egypt.309 The nationalist party has ceased to exist. The English govern by terror. More than 400 persons are incarcerated in the citadel of Cairo.310 The shaykh of the mosque of el ‘Azhar and several notables of the provinces have been brought to the capital as hostages. Pru¨fer

26 November 1914 Forenoon. To General Headquarters. Kress wants to send 600 Mausers to Egypt. I suggest route over the Red Sea. Shopping with Heibei, who is

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becoming unsympathetic. Visit of Sharif Bey and the smuggler ‘Abd el ‘Al. Ready to take over the transportation of weapons. In the evening, Kress asks me to undertake something in order to avert the Frankenberg threat. I will travel to Beirut and talk with Mutius. Zeki, who is now living in the hotel, and Sabih, who is eating here, promise me the setting free of three prisoners whom the smugglers need. Later, champagne spree in the “dining hall”.

27 November 1914 Kress informs me that 500 Mausers are ready for transport to Egypt. I am sitting with311. . .Futile visit with the vali. Tzschirner is ordered to ‘Aqaba. In the evening, I go in torrential rain to pastor Hanauer in order to hire Sprotte, the teacher who lives there, as paymaster for the weapons expedition. Sprotte will be sent for on the following morning.

28 November 1914 In the night, I fall sick with acute diarrhea and fever. In the morning, Sprotte appears and takes my suggestion. I get up despite being really sick and go to the visibly reluctant vali, from whom I wring the release of the three prisoners. In the course of the day, numerous visits. I am not well.

29 November 1914 Still fever. Towards evening, slight improvement. Kress tells me that the 10th Division has been withdrawn from Smyrna at his order and has been left behind in Alexandretta.

30 November 1914 Forenoon visits with Schieffer and Wagner, for whom it’s going somewhat better. In the afternoon, Heibei and Tzschirner argue. Kress forces them to reconcile. Frank shows up. In the evening, negotiations with smugglers, who are lukewarm, and in whom I have lost all confidence.

1 December 1914 Forenoon journey to Beirut. On the train, Herr Kirchner, businessman from Beirut, Frau ‘Asfar and an American businessman. Arrival in the

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evening. At the Hotel Sassmann, Herr Lindemann (harbor commander) and Dr Hoffmann.

2 December 1914 Visit with Mutius. Likewise to the Catholic and German school and to the hospital. In the evening with Mutius. Waldmeyer, black Levantine and British spy, presses himself on me. Recommended by Bro¨de. Mutius ready to report.

3 December 1914 Departure. Arrival in the evening in Damascus. At the hotel, Lo¨ytved, Najib Malhameh,312 Shakib ‘Arslan and Meissner Pasha.313

4 December 1914 Visit with Lo¨ytved to Wagner, with whom it’s going better. In Lebanon, 82 soldiers are frostbitten!

5 December 1914 I receive numerous letters through the censor. In the evening, invitation to be with ‘Asfar.

6 December 1914 Arrival of Djemal Pasha314 with staff and Frankenberg. Very unsympathetic impression. I am totally turned off. Reason? Vali very cool. A part of the smugglers are departed. The rest say the people are not ready for departure. There are total fraudsters here. The biggest is ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha. In the evening, Zeki Pasha departs. I am with all Germans at the train.

7 December 1914 The previous terms are agreed to. Kress visibly pleased. I almost regret having sent a telegraph through Mutius.

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8 December 1914 Visit with Djemal315 and Frankenberg. Both are peasant-crafty and conceited. Frankenberg will still provoke much umbrage with his Prussian Junker manner. Djemal treats the valis miserably. At the evening, cinema. Lame pictures, little entrain.316 Djemal and tutti quanti.317 Also, the vali summoned here from Beirut. Damascus, 8 December 1914.318 His Excellency, General Djemal Pasha,319 commander of the VIII Army Corps, Damascus. Espionage in Egypt. Two sources of information are at our disposal: paid professional spies who, with formal instructions, are making the voyage to Egypt under different pretenses and disguises, where they slip into the confidence of civil and military officials, from whom they bring back news. At the same time, they must answer back amongst the inhabitants of Egypt with good tidings from us and give them instructions concerning the insurrection against the English. The communications in writing that these spies are making to reach us from Egypt are composed of words and phrases arranged beforehand whose secret meaning varies on each occasion and with every individual. They are addressed to third parties who serve as intermediaries without being acquainted with the key to the codes employed. Our principal spies are the following: (1) Hajj Bashir al Bana from Beirut, presently en route for Cyprus. (2) ‘Abd al Hamid Yusuf, mechanic in service with the Hijaz Railway, located at present in Egypt. Minieh, trusted man to whom arms consignments or propaganda papers can be addressed. (3) Kazim Effendi, Egyptian, domiciled in Haifa, located at present in Egypt. (4) Rothschild, American Jew from Jaffa, attached at present to Captain Tzschirner in Aqaba. (5) Hajj Rahha from Beyrout, sent through smugglers Hajj Khalil ‘Abd al ‘Al, Hajj ‘Ali Kayyal, ‘Ahmad Shirkawi and Abiduh Inzidar, all four from Beirut. (6) Muhammad Murad, mufti of Haifa, who, on his side, employs a certain al Geridli from ‘Akka.

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At present, seeing that there are no more watermen on the Syrian coast ready to travel to Egypt, the only means of communication is the packet boat. Besides the professional spies, several private persons, moved by patriotism or because the occasion was suitable, provided reports on subjects of the military preparations of the English. In this category especially was the camel trader Muhammad al Bassam from Damascus, who, by the bedouins he sent, repeatedly furnished us information from the Suez Canal zone. Among the volunteers who are aiding us in gathering intelligence, I also mention al Habbal, editor of the journal ‘Ababil, who before this was living in Egypt. We are entering also into relations with the soap manufacturers of Nablus, for example, ‘Abd al Fattah Touqan, whose trade with Egypt makes them able to get news from the country. As for the results of the espionage, I refer to my different reports that I had the honor to submit to Your Excellency. Pru¨fer

9 December 1914 Tzschirner departs. Parade. In the evening with Kress and Lo¨ytved to Schieffer’s. Later, clash with Heibei, because has not agreed to my welcome of Sedad Bey.

10 December 1914 Arrival of the mahmal.320 Visit with Kress and Frankenberg, who brusquely rejects my collaboration. As an oriental, Djemal knows better in everything. Inn shaa’ ‘Allah.321 Visit with Persian consul. Dr Fuad shows up from Constantinople, where rumor is being spread that I have been shot dead in Qusayr. Shaykh ‘As’ad with me. In Basra, it’s going badly.

11 December 1914 Festival at Salah ad-Din’s tomb.322 Lo¨ytved talks and Djemal, to whom As’ad has made the speech. Many people without great entrain. Padel has become consul in Damascus. Lo¨ytved very crestfallen. The Askold323 in front of Haifa.

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12 December 1914 In the forenoon, I go shopping. In the afternoon, visit with Lo¨ytved to ‘Ahmad Fuad and Fuad Selim,324 who is with Shaykh ‘As’ad and ‘Abd ar-Rahman, where we eat towards evening. After the meal, German – Austrian celebration in the club. Frankenberg is drunk and is talking horrible nonsense.

13 December 1914 Shopping, etc. In the afternoon, farewell visit to the consulate, and with Jungels at ‘Asfar’s. In the evening, farewell party of the ladies Fangha¨nel and Kirchner for us officers. Damascus, 14 December 1914.325 To His Excellency, Imperial Ambassador Hans, Baron von Wangenheim, Constantinople. With reference to my report to Baron von Oppenheim and the edict of Your Excellency from the 12th of this month, I have the honor to respectfully report that, in view of the military situation, considerably intensified censorship provisions were issued for Syria by the supreme commander of the 4th Army, His Excellency General Djemal Pasha. The postal service with allied foreign countries has also been suspended until further notice. For the Germans assigned to the Ottoman military authorities, special regulations are issued, by which, according to you, correspondence by letter is subject to censorship, which does not allow reporting on military and political affairs. Toward a written reporting to Baron von Oppenheim, possibly through the agency of the imperial consulate, I believe I must, on the other hand, express doubt in this respect. Conditions in Syria seem to offer no guarantee that even sealed letters from the imperial consulate won’t fall into the wrong hands, whereby in view of the necessarily confidential contents of these reports, damage could perhaps arise. In addition, on the basis of news arriving here, it seemed not out of the question that the connection of Syria to the north could be cut off through a hostile raid from Cyprus on the Alexandretta – Tarsus line, and some mail intercepted on the way.

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Regarding the situation in Egypt, as far as it was reconnoitered by the local espionage service, and regarding the organization of this service, I have the honor to inform Your Excellency with the enclosure of a copy of both of my last reports to the commanding general of the VIII Army Corps. Here I may further point out that in recent days, multiple reconnaissances by the enemy with a sea plane against the coast at ‘Aqaba and Ghaza326 have been undertaken. Given the increasing difficulty of reconnaissance on our part by means of spying, the lack of airplanes327 makes itself felt ever more urgently. It would, therefore, as the chief of general staff of the VIII Army Corps repeatedly explained to me, be extraordinarily desirable if these grievous deficiencies could remedied soon as possible. Regarding the value of existing operations against the Suez Canal, many incorrect reports have been circulated by the German press. Major Mu¨mtaz Bey made a reconnaissance attempt with an irregular corps of about 1,800 poorly armed bedouins against Qantara some weeks ago, which yielded rather meager results. Only minor skirmishes have taken place, the locales of which were so distant from the canal that they produced as good as no result for the scouting of the situation at the canal. Some 20 Sudanese camel riders who were deployed here chose to desert. The propaganda activity in Syria has been promoted vigorously in recent weeks.328 In Damascus, some newspapers which had ceased or limited their publication, are newly invigorated through subsidies like the Muhajir; other papers appearing in Beirut up to now amidst difficulties, like Mufid, Ra’i al ‘Am, and ‘Ababil, were transferred here. These newspapers were constantly provided with the appropriate article material. Furthermore, in Damascus and elsewhere, demonstrations were staged.329 Likewise, through cinematic screenings of war pictures, enthusiasm, which so far has been paltry, was aroused. The staged farewell celebration in the ‘Umayyad Mosque for the expeditionary corps made a special impression on the troops and the population, among which the resolutions of His Majesty the Kaiser communicated by the imperial consul from Haifa to donate an eternal lamp for the grave of Sultan Salah ad-Din particularly excited enthusiastic cheers. Occasionally, I have endeavored frequent trips throughout the entire country, both to stir up the local authorities to arrange agitational events as well to make contact with influential private persons in order to

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persuade them into putting forth efforts to exert influence on their immediate circles. Large quantities of leaflets were sent out to Mecca and Medina, and were distributed among the pilgrims.330 I was able to satisfy myself of the success to the extent that multiple times after the return of pilgrims the copies sent out from here were shown to me. Even the smuggling of leaflets into Egypt was successful. Some of the problems of the pamphlet material distributed here are humbly enclosed. The newspaper subscriptions wished by Baron von Oppenheim I have requested in such a way that the local imperial consulate will convey the relevant newspapers to the imperial embassy with the request for dissemination. A direct subscription was rejected by the postal administration. My invoices up to the 14th of the month are attached together with enclosures. Pru¨fer

14 December 1914 March-off of the first troops. Farewell visits to the vilayet and to the consulates.

15 December 1914 Fetching of the holy flag.331 Great enthusiasm. Midday departure of the headquarters. Of the Germans, Jungels, Susermann, Sterke and I are on the move. Arrival in morning.

16 December 1914 In the morning in Sileh. There we stay until 4:00 in the afternoon, because we find no auto. The rest are traveling further with staff car, hecins, horses and luggage at 3:00. In the evening we show up in Nablus. I am catching a serious cold.

17 December 1914 Sterke and Susermann drive onwards in the morning. I and Jungels, who has hit himself in the head and gotten a hole in it, are staying behind.

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I am getting a buzzing in the nose. Shooting practice with Hagen. Around evening, Kress and Djemal II comes with Ekrem in the auto and holy flag. Frank comes back from the canal.

18 December 1914 In the morning, continuing on towards Jerusalem with Jungels. Arrival around evening. Kress and the general overtake us on the way. Fast.

19 December 1914 Forenoon work at general headquarters, because all plans are overturned due to Frank’s report. The general headquarters is shifted over to the commandeered Notre Dame de France.332

20 December 1914 Visit of the Indian ‘Abd ar-Rahman. Through the German– American Dr Spoer,333 I am made aware of the Zionist threat, particularly Ben Yehuda,334 Antebi,335 Yellin,336 Dr Levi who count as very anti-Turkish and anti-German. Likewise is the censor ‘Abu Jadid and the Christian Sununu, whose uncle Tadrus is strongly suspicious. The latter is said to have uttered threats against the German officers. Dr Ruppin,337 Zionist out of Jaffa, asked for the reported Russian Jews. Jerusalem, 31 December 1914. To the right honorable Baron von Oppenheim, Imperial Minister Resident, Berlin.338 In regards to the memorandum transmitted to me with your honor’s letter, J. No. 1, I have the honor to make some comments in accordance with the instructions in the following. The Grand Sharif of Mecca, Husayn Pasha, is widely described in Syria as standing in the pay of the English. Returning pilgrims told me that his behavior, as well as that of the commander of Medina, Basri Bey,339 is at the very least lukewarm. About the latter, the Indian emissaries sent to the Hijaz, ‘Abd al Jabbar and ‘Abd as-Sattar al Khairi, who complained to others about it, in particular complained that Basri Bey has in no way been

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helpful to them in the printing and dissemination of the fatwas about the holy war. Husayn Pasha’s dealings with Governor Vehib Bey, who ought to perceive in this his main purpose – breaking the influence of the sharif – are said to be rather cool. The lack of consular representatives, or at least of trusted Germans in the Hijaz and southern Arabia has made itself palpable not only in the dissemination of propaganda, but also, now and again, in various special operations which are attempted from these areas. These operations (for instance, Moritz, Gondos) were exclusively reliant on native or notso-effective Turkish assistance in Arabia, making their mission – to them, at least – no easier. The press of Syria and Palestine today is without exception in the hands of people who maintain best relations with German consular representatives. One exception produces only a portion of the Jewish newspapers in Jerusalem, the Zionist papers Haor340 and Acheroth, which were outspoken friends of the Entente powers before the entry of Turkey into the war, and are indeed making sure not to agitate directly against the allies of Turkey out of fear. Nevertheless, though, they succeed only imperfectly in hiding their francophile and anglophile sentiments behind the mask of non-partisan reporting. This sentiment is openly manifested in the ruthless struggle of the German Jews and their institutions for significance. In these conditions, a change in this situation may soon occur after the arrival of the new military governor,341 General Bach Pasha: censorship which up to now lay almost completely in Jewish Zionist hands will be exclusively entrusted to people of reliable political orientation from now on. Ma’an does not seem to me absolutely suitable as a propaganda center. The place is an insignificant, random cluster of about 200–250 shacks, which, set far away from the train station, only shows some life at the time of the pilgrimage. But even then, it is hardly more than a transit station in which only a few pilgrims sojourn. The overland traffic from and to Egypt goes today almost exclusively via el ‘Arish –Tell Rifa– Ghaza, or Hafir al ‘Awja– Bir as-Saba– Hebron.342 The Suez– ‘Aqaba– Ma’an line caters more to tourists than to commercial traffic. The connections of Ma’an with the east are very few. The almost monstrous reports by German newspapers about the Turkish advance against the Suez Canal are very deplorable. The

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laughable exaggerations of the expenditures of Ottoman efforts will cause a highly undesirable increase of English vigilance, but above all, the trust of the local population in the truthfulness of our reports through such easily controllable lies, such as for example the news about the already successful crossing of the canal, will be shaken. It seems that this Tartar news343 is making its way into our newspapers from Milan especially. It would be extremely desirable if Italian reporting relative to the German press would show more restraint from now on. A dissemination of increasingly sensational news is becoming lively here on the Italian side,344 displaying news most unfavorable to us. It is striking that news, such as for example that of the fall of Metz, of Przemysl and the retaking of Antwerp,345 always occur with the appearance of an Italian steamer. The bringing-in of Egyptian lie and agitation sheets like Muqattam, Mu’ayyad and ‘Ahram346 through the ships of the Italian line was detectable. It is undecided whether this is knowingly or unknowingly. Whether all Egyptian and particularly Sudanese troops would desert to the Turks, even if they had the opportunity to, seems somewhat doubtful to me. Sudanese have actually even fought against our irregulars already. Also, according to the latest intelligence from our espionage reconnaissance (from the 27th of the month), the Mohammedan Indians at the canal have been disarmed. Portugese have not arrived in the canal zone as of this date. Inside the Egyptian National Party, a cleavage in regard to their position towards the khedive has again occurred. The greater part of the committee members, among others Shaykh Shawish, Fuad Bey Salim, Dr ‘Ahmad Fuad, ‘Abd al Malik Effendi Hamza347 and ‘Isma’il Effendi Kamil,348 have completely broken away from the khedive, whom they accuse of attempted treason within recent times. On the other hand, Muhammad Bey Farid is said to be sticking with the khedive. The firstnamed are situated at the headquarters of the 4th Army and the VIII Corps. The small following of the khedive – whether willingly or by compulsion is not known to me – has stayed behind in Constantinople. The officers and the members of the court already sent here by ‘Abbas Hilmi Pasha were ordered back to Constantinople. Two envoys of Shaykh Sanussi, ‘Ali Bey and Husayn Bey Kueri have left on 26 November from Damascus to Zibeh on the Red Sea, and are proceeding from there via Upper Egypt to Kufra.349 As the Hungarian

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Gondos, who traveled with him and returned to here on the 28th of the month, reported, they have abandoned their plan. Once both were completely exhausted after the arduous camel trek from Tebuk350 to Zibeh, ‘Ali Bey preferred to make pilgrimage to Mecca, while Husayn Bey indeed went with Gondos in an attempt to reach the African coast, saw the light, however, after the foundering of this attempt, traveled to ‘Aqaba and gave up his original plan. The Gondos operation, which had the objective of setting the English petroleum tanks and wells at Ra’s Gemsa and Gabal az-Zayt351 on fire, fizzled on the first attempt because Gondos’ boat was shot at by an English combat vessel, so that only with effort did it escape to Khereba. Gondos and his countryman Dr Simon, however, are already going to set out for the south again today in order to reach their objective via at-Tur.352 Should they succeed in gaining the Egyptian coast, they will make a push with 30 soldiers to the region of Qena,353 Upper Egypt, so that they can bring Egypt into turmoil with the use of guerrilla bands from there. In particular, they will also try to blow up the big railway bridge over the Nile near Nag Hamadi,354 about 500 km south of Cairo. It may not be without interest that Gondos found dum-dum cartridges for English military guns on an enemy bedouin shot by him. He brought along one cartridge to corps headquarters. Ma’an is out of the question as a deployment center in the judgement of the expeditionary corps’ chief of staff. The way from Ma’an via ‘Aqaba prohibits itself as a marching route for the main column because it lies directly under the cannons of the English warships, which draw alongside because of the great depth in the Gulf of ‘Aqaba close to the bank, and because of that, can also take the land under fire at least eight kilometers in distance. Going around the threatened positions would be impossible as a result of the mountainous character of the terrain. The making of a route usable for all weapons types or even a railroad crossways through the Wadi ‘Araba355 and over heights that line the high mountain-like slopes of this wadi356 would necessitate labors lasting for years. Apart from these technical difficulties, the march against Suez, which constitutes the aiming point of the roads going out from Ma’an, would be militarily unfavorable, because the section of the canal would naturally provide the enemy warships greater freedom of action against our troops than the middle zone, which for combat vessels is more difficult and hazardous to reach. The deployment center for the

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expedition army is Beersheba. One side column each, which should mask the attack of the main force, will advance past el ‘Arish and ‘Aqaba respectively. A destruction of the freshwater canal357 would doubtless harm us more than the English, who always have easier water supply options from the west towards here, while we initially will be dependent on only the freshwater canal after the penetration of the canal. The laying of mines in the Suez Canal promises little success, if it succeeds in carrying itself out unnoticed, because in the opinion of the navy professionals in Constantinople, the discovery and neutralizing of the mines in a watercourse 100 meters wide is an easy thing. It is barely possible to take a larger number of troops than the actual number for the expedition to Egypt. The first echelon of the expeditionary corps, which qualifies for the first and probably critical thrust, is not nearly as strong as the memorandum plans it to be. The reason, in essence, is the lack of the means of transport. The obtaining of camels, then of saddles, bridles and so forth creates, besides the supply of water and forage, extraordinary difficulties. The notion that numberless camels are standing at our disposal in the countryside and in the border areas is utterly erroneous. Just before the arrival of the German officer mission in Damascus, the commanding army chief, General Zeki Pasha, and in particular his chief of staff, Major Sabih Bey, were entered into alliance with the senator ‘Abd ar-Rahman Yusuf Pasha to obtain camels through his mediation from the shaykhs of the tribes into the south and south-east of the country. Although the bestowal of medals and honor gifts to the tribal heads was not spared, and in spite of the outlay of quite significant amounts of money, the outcome was a pathetic one. Of the many thousands of promised camels, only some hundred actually usable pack animals were delivered. The bedouins had preferred either to wander off in the interior of the desert or even to sell their camels to the better-paying British in the areas closer to Egypt. Disciplinary measures towards the closing of the border were first enacted by the time thousand of animals were already provided to the enemy. At the urging of the Germans, they finally assigned some dealers, foremost of all the Damascus wholesaler Bassam, for the procuring of the camels required for the expedition. Although good prices were paid and the animals were fetched up here partly from Mesopotamia, the delivery is not yet quite completed.

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At the same time, it happens that usability of the desert camels for transport purposes is in great part open to question in general. The animals are timid and are – as stud, not pack, animals – restive in the wearing of the packsaddle. Most of all, though, their feeding is difficult, because they are accustomed to pasture forage and not to barley food. With native volunteers and irregulars, we’ve had only unfavorable experiences up to now. They don’t perform at all, are insubordinate, cowardly and demanding. The bedouin leader Mu¨mtaz Bey, for whose sake an operation was brought about with great expense in money and publicity, and who in an official telegram to the army high command had declared he would either die with his bedouins, or hoist the Ottoman flag on the citadel in Cairo, was a wretched fiasco. After one insignificant battle with Indian reconnaissance troops, Mu¨mtaz moved back to ‘Arish and suddenly declared a further advance impossible. Not once did he do reconnaissance work. His bedouins scattered themselves to all the winds. Others as bedouin volunteers are not coming in consideration of the previous experiences in the desert, because they soon morally and physically collapse in the unfamiliar terrain and under the difficult living conditions. The repeated attempts to bring weapons to Egypt are wrecked because, out of fear, the trusted Egyptian people refuse to take in the weapons themselves. As for the equipping and the preparation of the expedition, an increase can now still hardly be attained, because every loss of time would most seriously endanger the success of the expedition. On the part of the commanding army chief, General Djemal Pasha, the order to put off the expedition was already given, because the various forces for the operation did not suffice. The order was revoked after Djemal Pasha convinced himself that a postponement would be tantamount to a surrender of the expedition. In the staff of the VIII Army Corps, it is completely clear that the expedition is being carried out with inadequate means. Apart from the fact that the Ottoman army is not equivalent in number to the enemy at the canal, the gear of the British is presumably superior to ours. In this respect, it lacks an adequate number of German officers. Of adventurers who want to make war into a source of making money, the VIII Army Corps admittedly has no want. Similarly, it lacks in sufficient quantities of engineer and vehicle train material, but above all, in heavy artillery; the entirety of usable heavy guns consists of four 15-cm rapid-fire field

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howitzers. Quite keenly felt is the lack of aviators. While our enemies carry out aircraft reconnaissance almost daily, we are dependent on the difficult and uncertain reconnaissance of spies. Indeed, the intelligence is sent out there from Constantinople and comes from some aviators on their way coming in our direction, but in any case, much costly time was already lost. It still needs hardly to be said that ultimately, most particularly during the work of preparation, there was a lack of money. If, after careful reflection, we nevertheless decided to venture the operation, even so, the political considerations, in addition to the purely military ones, were also decisive. You may not fool yourself into thinking that the enthusiasm for the holy war in Syria and Palestine, the recruiting district of the VIII Army Corps, is an artificial one. Through methodically staged events of a patriotic, religious character, through large-scale press and pamphlet agitation, through winning of the clergy and the leaders of the people, some morale is being ushered in gradually with effort among the masses, who were initially lukewarm and unfavorable to the Ottoman imperial mindset. The last trump card played was the solemn bringing-in of the holy flag, which was conveyed from Medina via Damascus to Jerusalem, by which the troops in the field are supposed to be accompanied. Were you to hold back the departure now, the hard-won enthusiasm attained would absolutely wane again, and would make way for the old apathy, if not even hostility. Still much more ominous, though, would be the effect in Egypt, where the approach of the Turkish army was proclaimed through leaflets and emissaries. Your failure to appear would be tantamount to total discouragement of the Egyptians who are cowardly even without this. The military rationale, which absolutely necessitates an immediate striking-out with the forces proposed up to now, is in part already implied in the projections. The procurement of the means of transport for reinforcement troops would take months, even if it were possible. The requisitioning of reinforcements or further war materiel from Asia Minor or Europe would result in great loss of time as well. To use trains in place of the camel columns for the transports is regrettably impossible, because field trains of 75- or even 60-cm track gauge, apart from the difficulties of construction in the desert, are too inadequate to the task, and the building of a proper train from Ma’an outwards towards the canal would last, in the opinion of Meissner Pasha, at least three years.

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As the memorandum rightly emphasizes, only the time up to March is worth considering for the expedition through the desert anyway. One lone incoming sandstorm already at the end of March would make all artillery guns and weapons unusable. Should, therefore, the expedition come to pass anyway, it must be undertaken without delay in spite of all the things lacking. It is hoped thereby that the enemy, who has to defend a line of 160 km, will not be able to concentrate himself on the attack point as a result of the disguising of our advance by the flanking columns and the forwardshielding bedouins, so that as a result of our positional superiority there, at least a part of the exceedingly valuable canal could come into our hands. Furthermore, you can count perhaps on an Egyptian revolt movement in the rear of the English, if the Turks should at least succeed in accomplishing such a partial success. Pru¨fer358

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CHAPTER 2 1915

9 January 1915 At 9:00 am, in the pouring rain, we, Susermann and I, started out from Jerusalem, in fact, in the auto which Colonel von Kress had obtained. Touching farewell by the residents of the Hotel Fast put on, especially by Dr Weizmann.1 The journey was simply ghastly. Totally drenched through, we arrived at 4:00 pm in Hebron and we jumped off at the “Hotel” Eshel Abraham, which proved, by the way, better than its reputation, because it at least had no bedbugs. In the evening, Heiden appeared also, who with his artillery regiment had made the same march from Bethlehem, and in dreary and exhausted condition. Afterwards, we sat together for some time and groused about our lot, and then we fell dead tired into a deep sleep.

10 January 1915 Heiden was already gone around 7:00. Susermann and I then went on a walk in the very interesting, quite ancient oriental places which only became somewhat less appealing thanks to the deep mud in the streets. The mosque with the grave of Abraham2 we only saw from the outside. Even from the outside, though, it is, in its mountainlike massiveness, a wonderful building. On the way back, we saw Djemal Pasha’s auto, and soon after that, Ekrem and Hossam Ef., who were driving in a second auto behind Djemal Pasha3 and Kress, who themselves were hurrying on ahead to Bir as-Saba. In the afternoon, the general command, which had set out on the same morning from Jerusalem as we did, arrived.

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In the evening, we ate together a la turc.4 To general amusement, the clown Kalckreuth and Hamdi spent the night with us in the room.

11 January 1915 Departure 9:00 am by hecin with the general headquarters and the holy flag and their entire entourage of the sharifs of Medina. The ride on these rocking horses was by no means pleasurable. Nevertheless, we showed up in adh-Dhahariyeh5 in good spirits, welcomed by a large crowd. The sharif,6 who made no especially favorable impression on me, invited us to tea. He babbled a lot and overly emphasized his friendship to the Ottomans.7 With legs crossed, we sat on rugs in front of the colorful tent of the holy man, who was surrounded by a small troop of retainers and his brother. He also said, among other things, that he had been a guest of Lord Cromer’s8 in Cairo. After we left the company, we were called to prayer by a muezzin.9 Already in the twilight dimly suffused by moonlight, there resounded the wonderfully solemn call of ‘Allahu ‘akbar,10 as I had never heard it before. He is, in spite of all our skeptical gibes, a true believer. Shortly thereafter, Kalckreuth showed up with the 73rd Inf. Reg. with full band playing. The regiment moved into the area of our camp bivouac. Kalckreuth showed up to dinner with us in the tent. The third tent comrade was Hamdi. During the meal, the regimental band played Arabic melodies. The night in the field bed was very damp and cold, so that I woke up rather cold and cramped. During the night, the shaykhs of the sharif were constantly singing litanies.

12 January 1915 At 7:30, we, the general headquarters and the holy flag broke camp with the 73rd Inf. Reg., and indeed, al hamdu l’illah,11 with magnificent, clear weather. Already at 2:00, we arrived in Bir as-Saba without incident, where the holy flag was received by a battalion of infantry. In solemn procession, we rode, then, through the place to our campsite. There, Heiden, Sterke, Fast, Hagen and Brasch welcomed us. After we had reported to Kress, we ate with Fuad Bey12 towards evening in the division headquarters. Also, Jungels arrived with Fey. After dinner, we went with Kress and Ekrem to Hagen, Brasch, Sterke

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and Fast, who had visited a house together. There, mandolins were played and they sang until after 9:00 in the evening. Night in the tent was cold and damp.

13–15 January 1915 Forenoon, Kress holds an issuing of orders and communicates the newest, not-so-important intelligence from the canal. Later, Djemal the Great13 arrives in an auto with Frankenberg and Trommer, the commander of the 10th Division. After a short parade and conversation with Kress, Djemal and Frankenberg move off again. The afternoon proceeds with packing. After that at 4:00, there was an issuance of orders. At 11:00, things were loaded up, then, and at 12:00, the endless column, led by Kress, was set in motion. First marched the general headquarters, then the baggage followed, and towards the end came the division (4th Rgt.), and machinegun section and the artillery regiment. After a march of seven hours, we arrived in Khallasa.14 I was very tired and was frightfully cold. All day, we spent time sleeping and lying around tentless on our blankets. Jungels came later at 5:00 because he had to look after Hagen, who had sprained his foot, and can follow after only some days from now. From 7:00 on until 10:00, was asleep in great cold. At 11:00, we broke camp15 with the entire expedition army. The march led for the first time through purely desert terrain. With short breaks every two hours, we marched 12 hours, one behind the other, and we arrived Friday in al ‘Awja, the Turkish –Egyptian border station. The station consisted by and large of an ancient fort falling into disrepair and three massive houses, which in the desolate desert surroundings look odd enough. In Hafir, we met Berthold Fast,16 depot superintendent, and Heibei with the heavy battery. The camp was pitched one kilometer out in the desert. In the evening, we held our consumer’s cooperative: Sterke, Susermann, Ekrem, Jungels and I, as well as Fast and Heiden, at Heibei’s, eating in the tent. The night was tolerable, although it was cold and blustery.

16 January 1915 Violent sandstorm. We spent the day in Hafir as a rest day. Unfortunately, there was little rest to be thought of with the terrible

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sand drifts and the intense cold. In the afternoon, I purchased from a gendarme a hecin for 15 lira. Around evening, it began to rain, and the storm died down. The chief of the 180 Tripolitanian17 volunteers invited me to tea. His people look terribly wild. Poor Egyptians, on whom this gang will be unleashed! At 11:00, camp was broken. It was the most penetrating cold we had experienced thus far. We marched18 past ‘Umm Shihan as far as Wadi al ‘Arish, where we . . .

17 January 1915 . . . arrived early at 9:00 on Sunday, 17 January. The wadi is a broad valley between sand dunes covered with numerous tamarisks. In the supply column, considerable disorder is so prevalent that more officers had to be punished. Susermann had a conversation with Kress, who spoke out very confidently about his relations with Djemal I. Djemal will join us on the day of our arrival at the canal. Frankenberg will probably be called back. An additional division is on its way from Constantinople, and furthermore, the 101st and a part of the Hijaz Division will push towards us. It was warm, bright weather for the first time. I have lice! From home, no news whatsoever. Marched off at 11:00 at night.

18 January 1915 At 8:00 in the forenoon, we arrived at a spring between Hellal19 and Ibni.20 The campsite lay in a broad wadi consisting of enclosed land of moderate height. I suffered with incontinence, which however didn’t hit too severely. At noon, there appeared Frank, Wagner and a bedouin shaykh who brought valuable intelligence about the water supply. Our camel riders are swarming just up to the outskirts of ‘Isma’iliyeh. The entire east bank of the canal, with the exception of some field fortifications in front of the two bridges at ‘Isma’iliyeh, is said to be free of enemies. Around evening, ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha’s brother Mahmud arrived with 12 Kurdish riders from Bir el ‘Abd21 and handed over to us an English officer of the harbor police in Port Sa’id (Stephen White22), an Egyptian lieutenant (Muhammad Selim) and an Egyptian boatswain, whom he had captured at Bardawil.23

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19 January 1915 On Tuesday, 19 January, at 3:00 in the night, the march proceeded further. In only four hours, we reached Ibni, a camp fortified with trenches and with a provisions storeroom. Captain Bitzer of the quartermaster department was the only German officer there. In the afternoon, I interrogated three prisoners in the presence of Kress, Ekrem and the indefatigable Susermann, which yielded little of note. In Egypt, there are only Australians, New Zealanders and Indians. Heavy guns are supposedly not present. The afternoon, as usual, was slept away. At night around 2:00, we decamped. News came from Jerusalem to Kress that Talaat Bey will come to us. The third of the triumvirs also wanted to have come with him. Kress had told Susermann that the Iron Cross24 is already being requested for all Germans.

20 January 1915 At 8:00 in the morning, arrival in Bir el Hamma.25 Here at the foot of a glorious mountain chain,26 Kaltenbach had drilled a well. The report came in that an aeroplane had been shot down over Hafir el ‘Awja in vain. If the British have not known so far how it stands with us, then will it have become clear to them now. In Hemmeh,27 we are keeping a heliograph station that functions badly! The division is still together, the heavy artillery also, despite some losses by stupid louts. Jungels has received a reprimand from Djemal I28 because he has not transported the hospital material for Hafir ahead. He has therefore complained to Liman on the grounds that Djemal I took away the camels for his personal luggage transport. This conceited Napoleon takes with him palatial tents, hall stands, chests of drawers, beds, etc. in the desert, and we are sleeping in the open! Djemal arrives.

21 January 1915 Decampment at 2:00 at night. Afterwards, a boring and somewhat disorderly march. Arrival around 10:00 in the morning at Chabra I.29 Rest day. In the evening, Major Fischer comes from the front, reports that the British show little enthusiasm for probing. Fischer goes forward yet again in the night. Also, Enver is expected. We’re already seeing the enemy searchlights.

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22 January 1915 Still in Chabra I. Kress calls us together and explains the attack plan, which is at the same time meant to be his justification in case Djemal I plans something different. The attack will proceed from two strike points outward: (1) Bir Mehdi on the height of ‘Abu Ruqi, and (2) a point that lays to the south on the height of Serapeum.30 This line lays at a 20-km distance from the canal. Point 1 has abundant water. Point 2 does not. The supplying of water for point 2 is taking place through columns from Marah on out. The ammunition and supply dump is in Chabra II, 40 km from the canal. Departure 10:00 in the evening with the division staff past Gifgafa,31 where we arrive in rainy weather at 2:30 in the night.

23–24 January 1915 A point in a sandy, uninhabited plain, ten kilometers west of Gifgafa. Around 11:00 in the forenoon, numerous gunshots and two heavy explosions became audible. As we later learned, these noises came from an aerial attack on the “pyramids”. From morning on, our forces divided themselves. The general staff, the division staff, the 75 Inf. Rgt., the 25 Field Arty. Rgt., the 2nd Battalion of the 68th Inf. Rgt., the heavy battery minus the ammunition column, the engineer battalion with the bridge train, the water and rations column, as well as the field artillery and infantry ammunition column are going to Chabra II. The 73rd and 74th Inf. Rgts., Field Hospitals 23 and 25, Medical Company 25, as well as the heavy battery ammunition column are going to Haraba.32 In the night, at about 12:00, camp was broken. At around 7:30 in the morning on Sunday, 24 January, we reached Chabra II in foggy weather, where we encountered Gerlach.33 Also, Bitzer had practiced shooting on the way. Chabra II,34 which lay an approximate 40-km distance from the canal, is an oasis, which is formed by a small lake that lies between moderately high sand dunes. In the areas between the dunes grow numerous trees and bushes. Around midday, the weather became clear. We learned here that the aviator had been shot at yesterday at about 1,500 meters altitude by the 68th Inf. Rgt., with the predictable result that he came down to about 800 meters and then probably had noticed the troops for the first time, whereupon he unsuccessfully threw a bomb on one of Brasch’s

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water columns at the “pyramids” some kilometers east of Chabra II. At dinner, Gerlach and Brasch with us.

25 January 1915 Early at 6:00, the general staff, the general, Kress and the division staff broke camp without Susermann and Jungels to go on reconnaissance in the Serapeum area. After a hot seven-hour ride, we reached a high place,35 from which we could survey the canal from ‘Isma’iliyeh to the south end of the Bitter Lake. I estimated the distance at about ten km. The height had previously been occupied by four enemy riders, who took to flight as we approached (we were 60 men). Around 3:00 in the afternoon, the march back to Chabra II was begun, where we arrived utterly tired once more at 10:00 in the evening. In the Bitter Lake, we had seen two dredgers and some lighters. In the late evening, Fischer came and reported that an aviator had wounded four camels and three men in a column at Mehdi in a bombing.

26 January 1915 The forenoon passed quietly. Around 4:00 pm, an aviator showed up, hydroplane36 with black insignia on the under fuselage which threw two bombs on our camp. I found myself immediately with Kress. I confess that the hammering of the bombs, the powerful explosion and the black billowing smoke somewhat scared me, although I did my best to hide it. In the camp, everyone ran pell-mell and shot at the airplane, unsuccessfully of course, because the machine was at about 1,200 meters in altitude. Shortly beforehand the same aviator had thrown a bomb over Haraba and slightly wounded one man. In the evening and during the night, we heard the booming of a cannon from the direction of Qantara, where our northern detachment was supposed to arrive on the same day. I spent the night with Brasch in the tent, unfortunately on the ground without cover.

27 January 1915 Kaiser’s birthday. Again, the thunder of gunfire was heard. In the forenoon, field mail arrived including a letter from Leni37 and a second one from my dear Fanny. Also from my parents came newspapers.

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An aviator attempted in vain to come near our camp. The powerful storm threw him back again and again. Around 6:00 in the evening, broke camp. After endless, boring march, we arrived in the morning at Djemal Pasha.38

28 January 1915 Reconnaissance around the hill where we were on January 25th. The canal is full of transports. In the Great Bitter Lake and Lake Timsa, a cruiser each. I am determined to bring ammunition into the battle line. At Qantara, a battle without result between two batteries and one mountain battery of the British and our right column has taken place. In the morning hours, the aviator appeared and dropped two bombs without success. In the night, the army high command with Djemal I and Frankenberg appeared.

29 January 1915 The aviator flew over our camp west to east without bombing around 9:00. Around 10:30, went with Kress and Ekrem and the general and Kremeheiten on a reconnaissance to Mehdi. After a seven-hour ride we arrived there. There are in that place several wells. We met Fischer and Kamal Bey,39 who were just returning from a reconnaissance. On the east bank, there is no enemy as far as the canal. It’s almost spooky, this inactivity. An engineer captain has brought back water from the canal.

30 January 1915 At 4:00 in the morning, we arrived again at Djemal Pasha. I slept three hours, and then went on observation. In the Great Bitter Lake lay 20 transports traveling on a southerly course. The aviator ascended around 9:00 and flew towards Suez. Around 1:00, he came back without paying us attention. In the evening, hangman’s meal: asparagus and French toast with anchovy butter. I’m supposed to bring the ammunition into the battle. Heibei and Brasch have moved forward with a gun but already returned at 3:00, because they could not find a covered firing position. Seems to me to be a de´sastre40 almost inevitably. The enemy cruisers

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in the lake completely control the situation in regards to the flat, frontwards terrain that lacks cover. We will be destroyed before we have actually come in the vicinity of the canal.

31 January 1915 Around 4:00 am, we advanced into a position three hours north-west from Djemal Pasha, roughly opposite to Tussun.41 The vanguard of the 10th Division arrives today at Djemal Pasha. The Gondos expedition is wrecked,42 like everything so far undertaken. Only the march through the desert was a splendid accomplishment. Among 12,000 men, only 12 sick, despite all the strains and privations. In the forenoon and afternoon, I undertook with Sterke and Susermann a reconnaissance right down to four kilometers from the canal. We detected enemy field fortifications at Tussun. Kress and Ekrem made at the same time a reconnaissance, and were fired at from the fortifications. The aviator flew over us without bombing.

1 February 1915 Reconnaissance section Brasch– Heibei shot at furiously with machine guns opposite ‘Isma’iliyeh. No losses. The aviator circled around the camp several times without dropping bombs. Kress is working up his plan of attack from a corps instruction.

2 February 1915 Forenoon. The troops are moved to new positions during the night, seemingly with the front to the north. Kress leaves the camp about 1:00. Violent sandstorm sets in. The aviator fails to appear. The general staff leaves the camp at 6:00 and reaches the hill with the two shooting calibration targets of the British after some wanderings in the dark. I am supposed to wait out the progress of the battle there, and when the crossing is successful, proceed with a column with bags towards Tussun, and there, together with Brasch, block up the canal with sandbags. Susermann also is to be with me. Around 1:30, the troops are in the ready position three kilometers from the canal. No shot is fired. Now, the cruisers in Lake Timsa, one of which has moved up close to the

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mouth of the canal, are showering the ground with illumination from their searchlights.

3 February 191543 Around 4:00, the gunfire begins along the entire line between Tussun and the Great Bitter Lake.44 In the beginning, then, the fire was weak, but gradually heavier. In between them, we discern clearly the boom of the cannons from the armored trains, and to and fro also there falls a shot from a field gun. We know nothing about the result of the attack until the dawn. First off, then, we saw clearly that the attack was not successful, and that the enemy overall held the west bank of the Canal. Perhaps around 8:00, the field guns and naval guns of the enemy and our heavy and light batteries began their work. The fire of the ships was impressive, but essentially ineffective. Around 10:00, the second cruiser in Lake Timsa was put out of the battle because of a direct hit to its heavy battery. We saw it slowly pulling away under heavy smoke. While I was going to the field hospital, somewhat to the south of the field command post (with Hamdi), the aviator showed up. Straight over the hospital he circled, and immediately hammered in a heavy naval cannon shell close to the hospital. It was clear that the enemy deliberately bombarded the hospital, because his ship’s fire up to that point had only been aimed at the heavy battery. Around noon, I went with Susermann back to our old camp, because, totally exhausted, we wanted to sleep for an hour. During our march, shells landed all around us. The fire was very heavy. In the camp, we rested a short time. Around 3:00, a false report came through a Sudanese that Tussun had been stormed by the Turks. Consequently, I went anew with Susermann to the front. On the way, we were completely covered with soil and steel fragments from a heavy naval shell. Gradually, the fire slackened because the Turks were making no more attacks. Around 5:30, I was back again in the camp, which in between time had been bombarded. I was completely exhausted. I met there Jungels, Susermann, Sterke and some other comrades, from which I learned that the attack upon the whole line was a failure. Also, I heard about some more incidents. Around evening two companies on Lake Timsa were exchanged through the white flag, caught in an ambush and totally annihilated. Forty engineers had swum across the canal and were

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butchered with bayonets. Towards night, the firing ceased completely. It rained hard.

4 February 1915 In the morning, Kress, who had arrived with the generals during the night, tells us that the retreat was supposed to have commenced, because a continuation of the fighting in the face of enemy superiority would be impossible. In Lake Timsa, five enemy cruisers, and in Bitter Lake, three, have showed up. The retreat began immediately in best order, disturbed by the enemy only with weak fire. The 10th Division remained as rear guard cover in the trenches. We had lost no gun, no flag. ‘Ali Fuad Bey estimated that we lost about 800 dead, Hagen among them, who had fallen as the only German officer in the 73rd Infantry Regiment in the forwardmost line of defense. Wounded numbered 160 men. Around 2:00 in the afternoon, Susermann, Brasch, Frank, Bitzer, a bedouin and I set out eastward with our orderly in order to reach Jerusalem as fast as possible before the army. Kress had instructed us beforehand that the whole affair should be represented as a reconnoitering in grand style. We would hold Ibni, ‘Arish, Bir Hassan45 and an-Nakhl, and renew the attack in the fall with stronger forces. In the evening, we rested behind Djemal Pasha, where we encountered the people of the holy flag utterly agitated. The fellows had not even been in the battle. Treason I do not consider out of the question, because the English obviously knew our attack targets. This time, we actually had a tent, which Brasch had taken along on a pack camel.

5 February 1915 Around 7:00, we broke camp, and arrived after steady riding in Chabra II about 2:00, where we met Fischer and the elder Hall.46 Fischer’s northern flank detachment had likewise been withdrawn after it had lain opposite the enemy in trenches all day. Fischer left us at noon, and around 4:00, we broke camp again. Around 6:30, we were tired and pitched the night camp. Bitzer remained in Chabra II.

6 February 1915 Broke camp, 7:00 am. Riding without interruption until 11:30, Gifgafa. There, noon rest until 1:00. Rode further without rest until

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4:30 to Chabra I, where we were cordially entertained by Abraham Lange, the well borer in that place. Spent the night in Chabra, where it rained.

7 February 1915 Broke camp, 6:00 in the morning. Arrival in Bir Hamme around noon. Visit with Kaltenbach the well borer. Frank shoots a rabbit. Around 1:00, hard ride as far as Ibni. We arrived there around 4:00. With us together, but in opposite direction, Professor Mu¨hlens47 with Dr Koch48 arrived from Aleppo, who provided us starved vagabonds with wine and oranges. We rested about four kilometers to the east and ecstatically devoured the rabbit, together with wine and supplies.

8 February 1915 Broke camp at 5:30 early. Short rest in Hellal spring, where Frank is leaving us to go to Ghaza. Susermann is in a fit of pique for ridiculous reasons (I denied him cigarettes). Arrival in Wadi ‘Arish at 1:00. Midday pause. Broke camp around 2:00. After endless, very wearying march, arrived in Hafir around 9:00 where we were hospitably taken into a tent by Berthold Fast, Dr Krigeler, Hausmann and the Algerian, Koch from Aleppo.

9 February 1915 Rest day in Hafir. I sell my hecin to Fast. To tea with Professor Ward in the American hospital.49 A conceited, Jewish –German doctor, Dr Stutzin, is with the Americans. Hafir al ‘Awja, 9 February 1915. To His Excellency the Imperial Ambassador Baron von Wangenheim, Constantinople.50 Yesterday evening, I arrived here at the Turkish –Egyptian border after a hurried, four-day ride from the battlefield at ‘Isma’iliyeh. I am honored to most obediently submit to Your Excellency in the following

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a report about the outcome of the expedition in which I participated as a volunteer with permission of the Foreign Office. On the 10th of January, the Ottoman troops consisting of the reinforced 25th Division brought up an engineer battalion and a battery of four 15-cm rapid-fire howitzers southwestwards from Jerusalem. The rear echelon road led initially through Turkish territory as far as Hafir al ‘Awja without tremendous difficulties. In Bir as-Saba, the bulk of the baggage including the tents were left behind, limiting stuff brought into combat to only whatever each individual man could take with him. The officers were allowed a 15-kg load. In order to reduce impediments, the taking along of camp beds was also forbidden; everyone, soldier and officer, had to sleep on the ground under the open sky. The staging route over the 260-km stretch of desert had been reconnoitered previously by the Germans resident in Palestine, in particular Herr Friedrich Frank from Haifa. The especially difficult provision of water had been effected in part through the construction of wells, and in part, available oases known previously only to the bedouins had been made usable. In these places, in Wadi ‘Arish, in Hellal, Hamme, Chabra I, Chabra II and Djemal Pasha, magazines were constructed, which were secured by small garrisons. Ibni and Gifgafa were staging locations that were designated only for water that was brought out there in petroleum containers. The march through the desert was extraordinarily troublesome. Because the inflow of water and food rations for the marching troops could only happen through camel columns, the feeding of the officers and men was limited to only the most essential, because of the lack of these beasts and the great mortality due to enormous fatigue of the camels, to which provisions had to catch up. The fare consisted of hard zwieback, dates and olives. The water frequently left much to be desired. In Chabra I and Hamme where wells were bored, it was salty and therefore barely drinkable. At other staging locations, thirst had to be quenched with the muddy, foul-tasting liquid that had collected in earlier rainfalls in depressions. Despite this, the army arrived in a combat-ready, if naturally weakened, condition as a result of the hardships and the tremendous marches after 17 days on 27 January at Djemal Pasha about 15 km east of Serapeum on the canal. The best thing is that the amazing performance of the German officers, especially the medical and quartermaster officers,

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demonstrated throughout that in the whole division, the loss through sickness after this uniquely unrivalled desert march amounted to only 12 men. To the Turks is due only a small share of this credit, because for the most part, they rather hindered than assisted. After a two-day rest, the troops moved into a camp some six kilometers north-west of the last staging location, at about the elevation of the canal station Tussun. From this point outward, the first larger reconnaissances were sent out, which immediately led to smaller skirmishes with the enemy. The result of these reconnaissances was that the enemy, aside from smaller patrols, had evacuated the eastern bank of the canal. On the height of the west bank, ordnance emplacements were visible. In the Bitter Lake and in Lake Timsa, there lay in each a French cruiser, and in Lake Timsa, at the same time, an English one. The battle plan devised by the VIII Army Corps’ chief of staff, Colonel Baron von Kress, was in short the following: the main attack, that was supposed to commence on the approximately five-km-long Tussun – Serapeum stretch, was covered on both wings by flank detachments of a battalion of ordnance and some mountain artillery, which were supposed to operate against Suez in the south and in the north against Ferdan51 and ‘Isma’iliyeh, and was to camouflage the actual attack through a feigned advance. The main force consisting of the 73rd and 74th and part of the 75th regiments, along with machine gun sections, as well as engineers with pontoons and bridge trains, was supposed to move up to a prepared position three kilometers from the enemy and wait there for the forwardmarch order along a widely stretched-out front. The plan was for these troops to approach the canal in the dark of night unnoticed by the enemy, put their crossing equipment into the water, carry out the crossing and take the enemy by surprise. These movements took place in excellent order on the night of 2 –3 February during a violent sandstorm. On the day before, the vanguard of the 10th Division (Smyrna) had arrived, some 5,000 men strong together with field artillery, and remained standing in reserve some eight kilometers from the canal. Around 1:30 at night, the storm columns advanced out of the troops concentration. Up to then, no shot was fired. Only the spotlights of the enemy ships were incessantly scanning the terrain in front, but apparently without result. At about 3:30, the troops stood at the canal and lowered the pontoons into the water. In this moment, there began from the enemy positions concealed between trees

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and shrubbery on the other bank a quick, extremely awful intensity of increasing infantry and machine gun fire that perforated all the pontoons like a sieve in short order, and the greater part of them sank. The Arab troops, some of whom were already in the boats, showed the least resiliency in the face of heavy losses. In spite of all effort – particularly of the German officers – to forcibly bring the people forward, they turned immediately to flight, and initially collected again in the hastily shoveled-out trenches at some distance. Until morning, then, an extremely intense battle from bank to bank lasted continuously. The enemy machine guns and revolver cannons literally showered us with fire. Major von den Hagen was one of the first to fall. As I heard from the leader of the 25th Division, ‘Ali Fuad Bey, his body was said to show 13 gunshot wounds. Around 8:00 in the morning on 3 February, the artillery duel on the entire line began. With their heavy artillery, the enemy cruiser in Lake Timsa bombarded our howitzer battery, which managed to set on fire the English warship (seemingly an older cruiser with two smokestacks) after an approximately two-hour battle during which, being completely shrouded in black smoke, it had to distance itself. This loss was compensated for by the enemy, however, in that bit by bit, an entire squadron was assembled in the lake. I counted five combat vessels in Lake Timsa on the evening of 3 February. A French cruiser was in the mouth of the canal at Deversoir,52 allowing it to rake the entire stretch of the canal up to Tussun. The heavy naval guns took the entire open country in a 12-km radius under fire. While the actual damage which was caused by the big shells was not very substantial in the deep dune sands, the moral effect on the men from the powerful blasts was nonetheless much greater. Our trenches were brought under fire by three armored trains and revolver guns, against which we were utterly powerless. Around evening on 3 February, the fire on both sides subsided and completely dropped off towards night. Our troops lay in their positions; the counter-advances attempted repeatedly by the enemy had been repulsed. Because nevertheless a new assault attempt with these troops was unthinkable without the means of crossing, even if the still rather fresh 10th Division was deployed, the army leadership decided to pull back the entire armed force and to abandon the attack for the time being.

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As cover, the 10th Division advanced in the front position. The withdrawal was in full motion by the departure on 4 February around 2:00 in the afternoon. I heard no more shooting along the way, so I may assume that the enemy, who probably also had heavy losses, had decided against a harassment of our retreat. Although the Turkish losses are heavy, the talk cannot be of a catastrophe, nor of a defeat, by any means. ‘Ali Fuad estimates the number of the dead and missing – there were small troop sections who had reached the west bank and had not returned – at around 800 men. On the morning of 4 February, 160 wounded were handed over. Fortyfour officers are said to have fallen. These figures fall well behind the reality, though. In this amount of combatants of at most 17,000 men, these numbers can certainly be described as quite significant. All the more highly is it to be expected, that, nevertheless, the positions could be held against superior strength and abandoned voluntarily and without panic. A blocking of the canal was unthinkable, even though the attempt through mines and the filling-in with sand was planned. After the collapse of our infantry attack, it was impossible under the furious machinegun fire to come near the canal. The enemy armed forces standing opposite us – Australians, New Zealanders, Indians, Gurkhas, Sudanese and Egyptians – amounted to at least 30,000 men at the canal itself. With them came very substantial reserves, which we saw brought up in railroad trains. Hindering this somewhat through gunfire was not possible because our heavy howitzers only had a range of six km, and consequently, the railway line lay outside their firing range. The enemy’s manner of fighting was not perfectly irreproachable. I myself was witness as to how our furthest advanced field hospital was sought out by a pilot and then fiercely bombarded with heavy naval shells. Also, our people were repeatedly enticed into an ambush with the white flag, to which Captain Brasch is witness. Two companies were destroyed this way. The enemy pilots, who pelted us daily with bombs during the march, have performed excellent reconnaissance work. We had nothing equivalent with which to counter it. Our reconnaissance through spies and operatives was deficient in effort and money in spite of all the expenditure. Our spies were, as Arabs, cowardly53 and, as civilians,

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mostly unreliable in their reports, because they were not able to clearly see the military situation correctly. We could not determine whether an insurgent movement had started in Egypt. Deserters are not stampeding to us. In spite of the rumors spread here in camp of the great massacres in Egypt, I was afraid that all of our work towards provoking the lands of the Nile to revolution was an attempt with unsuitable means towards an unsuitable object.54 With the cowardly Arabs, who are only patriotic in word, and especially the Egyptians, only by means of the most copious bribery is it possible to accomplish something. I would, though, consider any expense towards agitation attempts in Egypt pointless, unless it preceded an action against the canal carried out with sufficient military means. Pamphlets and appeals to the holy war are unlikely to succeed in moving the Arabs to deeds. In the opinion of Herr von Kress, a repeat of the expedition would be possible under the following conditions, provided prospects persist that the war still lasts up to autumn, then, but not earlier: (1) Building of a railroad from Jerusalem over the Hebron– Bir as Saba– Hafir al ‘Awja staging road at least as far as Chabra I. This railway construction would hardly still present technical difficulties because the path is already mapped by the expedition and the rough places are being made level by the engineers. (2) Retention of garrisons at the more important staging points in order to secure them, insofar as this is not already happening. (3) Employment of culturally trained German quartermaster officers to staging points as logistics commanders. (4) The entire expedition staff, including the leader, consists of German officers. (5) A larger number of modern, heavy ordnance pieces, not just a single one, as well as numerous pilots, are in place. (6) The expedition is undertaken only with Turkish soldiers, to the exclusion of all Arabs and all volunteers and irregulars. (7) The number of expedition troops is at least equal to that of the enemy. (8) Preparations are begun immediately. (9) An amount of at least 30 million marks in expedition costs is made available, control of which lies exclusively in German hands.

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At the wish of the army leadership in agreement with the German chiefs of staff of the 4th Army and the VIII Army Corps, the single war correspondent present, Herr Susermann, who had taken part in the battle himself, was requested to put down in his report provided for the public that the action was a reconnaissance in force in grand style for a later expedition for the conquest of Egypt. As reconnaissance, the operation may be described as successful, all the more so as it has brought the Sinai Peninsula, whose most important points should be held, into the possession of Turkey. In conclusion, I am honored to request Your Excellency to send instructions about my further utilization. Signed, C. Pru¨fer C/O Imperial Consulate General, Jerusalem. Hafir al ‘Awja, 9 February, 1915.55 Most honorable Minister Oppenheim! Yesterday evening, I was utterly exhausted after a four-day ride by camel and famished from the battle. Arrived here in Hafir al ‘Awja at the border, to which I with a few other German officers of the retreating Turkish army was sent ahead. About the expedition itself and the outcome of the battle, I have directed to the ambassador a comprehensive report, which will doubtless be forwarded on to Berlin. With respect to a result, there was from the outset no other conclusion one could arrive at, than that the planned surprise attack and breakthrough of the enemy front was betrayed – in part through aviators, in part through spies in our ranks – and was thereby wrecked. What we hoped in Germany, to at least be able to block the canal, became likewise impossible in the blink of an eye, as the infantry attack had been thrust aside and henceforth, the terrain in front of the east bank of the canal was brought under such dreadful machine gun fire that any approach was out of the question. I have managed to persuade myself of this, because the honorable task of leading the column – which was supposed to carry out the choking up of the water course with sand and bags – to the canal fell to me. It was simply impossible to get the people out of the trenches. Whether our agitation in Egypt has had success can now not be overlooked. Here it is being said that a bloody revolt is taking place, but

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it is being crushed. In spite of all the rabble-rousing, in spite of all the thousands of leaflets and the numerous emissaries which I had sent out in the last days before our departure, we had no deserters. The Egyptians are just cowardly to the point of despair,56 and free of any true love of fatherland. On the other hand, blatant cases of treason had occurred among the Egyptian officers who served with us. Also, the Syrians and Palestinians are good for nothing.57 The old enmity towards the Turks is stirring again, even among the officers. An Arab officer in the staff of Djemal Pasha said quite openly that he hoped Syria would be liberated from Ottoman domination in two years, and this case is perhaps not an isolated one. The troops, with the exception of the Turks, are without any e´lan.58 Everyone fled at the first burst of machinegun fire. After that, the defense was tolerable. The holy war is a tragicomedy. The holy warriors from Medina, along with the holy flag, had already slipped off homeward before the engagement. The bedouins59 scattered momentarily when the fight began, or deserted over to the enemy. The remaining volunteers and mujahidin60 who had reported for battle, such as the Kurds and the Druze, didn’t show up at all, but stayed behind in Palestine. All of us Germans, without exception from Herr Colonel Kress up to the lowliest lieutenant, are of the view that the assault on the canal must be repeated, but with sufficient means. What we principally need are heavy batteries and numerous aviators. But above all, the Turks must completely disappear from the staff. Our general command, to which I too belonged as a major, was a caricature. The Turkish officers sleep the entire day, when they weren’t cooking on the fly. Their energy only suffices to render passive resistance to us Germans because they consider our work as an annoying disturbance of the peace.61 That the spirit of concord was nowhere disturbed in spite of this is thanks to the marvelous composure and dependability of Herr von Kress. To you, most highly honored Herr Minister, I will from now on, I hope, regularly be able to send reports from here, as long as the Foreign Office decides to leave me here. I have the intention to go for the time being to Jerusalem, where I must go in for medical treatment, because I, as a result of the strain of the four-week-long march and the lack of food and sleep, am completely at the end of my strength, like most of my comrades. I hope to be restored to health, however, in a few days.

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With the most humble greetings, I have the honor to be Your most obedient Curt Pru¨fer

10 February 1915 Trip by auto to Bir as-Saba. Arrival there around 7:00 pm. We get off with Friedrich Fast and Dr Karcher. Visit with Birshed Bey the commander, who informs me that ‘Arish was bombarded with 75 shells.

11 February 1915 Departure by auto around 8:00 am on wretched streets. At noon in adhDhahariyyeh. After short rest with tired horses on better roads through meadows and spring-green mountains to Hebron, where we arrived around 7:00 in the evening at Eschel Abraham, received enthusiastically by the family. For three, we devoured 26 eggs, two bottles of cognac, cauliflower and cheese. Around 9:00, we traveled on to Jerusalem. Brasch and I slept soundly after copious consumption of cognac. Around 2:30, we were in Jerusalem with Fast.62 Jerusalem, 24 February 1915.63 Highly honored Herr minister! Two of our agents returned from Egypt report the following: An insurrectionary movement has taken place nowhere. The Sanussis64 have not attacked and are still in Sallum. The English atrocities reported here via Constantinople are bogus. On the contrary, the English treat the Muhammedan natives more courteously and cautiously than ever,65 which as captatio benevolentiae66 is also probably readily understandable. The new sultan Husayn Kamil is already said to be entertaining intentions of abdication again, to which a discord, which has broken out between him and his son Kamal ad-Din,67 is supposed to have contributed. My one source was in Port Sa’id one day after the battle, from 2nd to the 3rd of February, and saw there numerous wounded. He estimates their number at several hundred. The wounded were being brought by ship to Alexandria. The English are barely declaring their losses in the battle at the canal. I also have the conviction, according to my own

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observations during the battle, that the English can have lost hardly more than perhaps a few hundred men total in dead and wounded.68 About the battle itself, I would like to add a few addenda to my report from the 9th of this month. On 3 February around 4:00 in the afternoon, it was reported to Colonel von Kress by a lieutenant of a machine gun section that in front of his position in the south-east of the Timsa Lake, the following incident took place: a company of the 75th Infantry Regiment (Dera’a69) had sent for the enemy, officers at the head, with gun and saber under the waving of white flags. They sent boats from the other shore in which the whole company went across to Egypt. Questioned as to why he did not fire on the deserters, the lieutenant explained that he had no order to do so. The company has in fact disappeared without a trace, just like a second one of the same regiment. There lies the suspicion that they also have gone over to the enemy. Individual cases of treason and desertion have been rather numerous, most of all among Egyptians, alleged nationalists who served with us as volunteers, or even as officers. In the Qantara detachment alone, more than 30 of these people are “missing”. In the general supreme command itself, a captain of gendarmes, an Egyptian, is missing without a reasonable explanation for his absence being given other than treason. He disappeared, you see, with a bedouin on the day before the encounter. These people, only quite rare exceptions of whom could in our minds be called men of honor and patriots, are morally, according to my bitter, practical experience, far too nonresistant to leaving honor and patriotism high and dry in the face of the temptations of the circling British agents, who are not at all stingy with sovereigns. We can only, then, work with these people if we buy them as the British do. I fear that we will not be able to manage without them, leastways as transmitters of intelligence and spies. There are ample financial means for this available for allocation in the proper form. As a spy, a man who sets his life in the game does not like to give receipts for the act whose discovery may bring him to the gallows. In Palestine and Syria, the wildest rumors are in circulation, peddled eagerly by the Christians and some of the Jews. Colonel von Kress has, according to these rumors, already taken his own life several times after he has shot Djemal Pasha. The English are supposed to have landed every day, everywhere on the coast. The German officers have fallen victim to a Turkish officer’s plot. The greatest effort is being given to antagonize the

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Turkish and German officers. It must not be concealed that, truly, a certain irritated mood exists among the Turks towards the Germans. One of the most capable Turkish officers of our army corps, who himself served a number of years in Germany, commented just yesterday to me in an unambiguous manner: he completely recognizes that there are German officers here who perform excellently in every way, and are thereby perfect men in moral respects. He regrettably had to explain, however, that you cannot say this about a different and not insignificant portion of the Germans in the 4th Army. He knows quite well that the level of his own comrades is quite low. For the Germans, though, it is no excuse to say that the Turks didn’t do it better. The Ottoman army demands of the German officers exceptional, non-average performance, otherwise it doesn’t need them. Whoever wants to rehabilitate himself in Turkey for earlier small infidelities or hopes to quickly make a career or money here will hopefully remain at home. The exceptional position which the Germans have claimed for themselves, the haughty attitude of many of the men, the public contempt which they openly parade before the inhabitants and institutions of the country in which they are guests,70 could be made tolerable to the Turks at best through unusual ability and unusual successes. Previously, these qualities would have abundantly validated only the men of the military mission and some few of the officers in the Turkish army who were successful in other ways. For the contesting of the Sinai Peninsula, a command of ours with a seat in Ibni west of Wadi ‘Arish has been created under Herr Colonel von Kress. On the 1st of March, the staff with Herr von Kress will leave for there. I am currently expecting further orders from Constantinople. I would be very pleased if I could remain assigned to the 4th Army. Herr von Kress has requested that I be attached to him as previously. With the most obliging greetings, I have the honor to be, most highly honored Herr minister, Your most submissive C. Pru¨fer Jerusalem, 24 February 191571 To His Excellency the Imperial Ambassador Baron von Wangenheim, Constantinople. Your Excellency, I have the honor to present in the attachment the translation (in excerpt) of a letter directed to me from Muhammad ibn

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‘Abd ‘Allah, the Damascus wholesaler from Basra. The letter deals with the events in the Najd and struggles between Ibn Rashid and Ibn Sa’ud. The first part of the letter refers to a delivery of camels made by Bassam to the VIII Army Corps. Bassam is constantly receiving through his well-informed relatives and business friends what is usually quite reliable intelligence. The figures presented in the letter may be strongly exaggerated, though. Signed, C. Pru¨fer Damascus, 4 Rabi’a ath-Thani 133372 To his high wellborn, my honored friend Herr Dr Pru¨fer the German. (The letter begins with communications concerning an anxietycausing camel purchase by Bassam for the army, the financial settlement for which by the military authorities is tardy. Bassam therefore asks me for an intervention with Colonel Baron von Kress. The writer then continues.) “As far as the news coming into me is concerned, the prospects for harvest in Syria, in Iraq and in Mesopotamia are excellent. Similarly favorable is the news about the situation with Ibn Rashid and Ibn Sa’ud. There has occurred an encounter in which Ibn Rashid has remained victorious over Ibn Sa’ud. Of Ibn Sau’d’s soldiers, 1,500 were killed and 1,200 wounded. Also, three Englishmen who were with Ibn Sa’ud have fallen: the consul of Bushehr, who was in Kuwait earlier, Sir Speir,73 and with him two other English. Also, the sons of ‘Abd al ‘Aziz ibn Sa’ud, Turki and Faysal and three other relatives were killed. On Ibn Rashid’s side, 50 men fell. The encounter took place place in the vicinity of Zulfi74 on the 11th of Kanun Thani. The news is coming from the emissaries of Ibn Rashid, who have presented five flags of Ibn Sa’ud. They also report that Ibn Rashid has moved on to Hussaim in order to occupy it”. Jerusalem, 1 March 1915.75 Proposals concerning the organization of the intelligence service against Egypt. The results obtained up to the present by the employment of native Egyptians as intelligence agents were in general not very satisfactory.

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The individuals whom we were obliged to use were in most cases neither intelligent enough nor courageous or faithful enough to be in a condition to fulfill their task. The few literate Egyptian patriots who were in this country were too well-known in their homeland for them to have dared to go there without being immediately arrested. In these conditions, and seeing that it is hardly possible to send Ottomans or Germans to Egypt, we must resort to non-suspect people that may enter Egypt without difficulty, and who at the same time possess wiliness and the cold-bloodedness necessary for such an enterprise. In fact, we can find in this country a considerable number of such people among the Jewish population.76 In this class of inhabitants, we can easily choose around twenty individuals who naturally, for a good reward, are ready to make the trip into Egypt to provide us military and political intelligence. Provided with a Russian or American passport, they would go to Egypt, either as expellees from here, or from a port in Italy. On the basis of these facts, I have the honor to submit the following plan: Two centers of espionage will be created in Egypt: one in Alexandria and the other in Cairo. While the first has only male agents, the second is exclusively composed of women. This separation is recommended to avoid intrigues and jealousies in the sexual realm. Each of the two departments would have a chief, a man in Alexandria, a woman in Cairo. This chief would know all the members who, for their part, do however not know the chief, so that the latter monitors the members without knowing that they are being monitored. The name of an associate will be indicated for each member with the instruction to monitor him and to report on his conduct after his return. The other members would still not know among themselves as being such, the same as the two heads would be ignorant of each other. When an agent believes he is in possession of valuable intelligence, he will go as soon as possible to Rome77 where, through the intermediary of a designated personage, he will make his report to the Ottoman Embassy, which from its side will immediately inform the general headquarters in Constantinople. It must be absolutely avoided that an agent goes into Turkey by direct routes. In a situation where the return to Egypt may be carried out without awakening suspicion, it may be done. In the opposite case the agent will return through Palestine. If a chief of section has any justified suspicions concerning the conduct of an agent, he will immediately report on him

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to the center in Rome through the intermediary of an individual he may freely choose on the spot. In extremely serious cases and in imminent danger, he may eliminate the traitor by all means. Each agent would have a number and a letter of the alphabet by which he would prove his identity to Rome. The sign of the number and the letter, which will be known to the chief of section, will serve equally to identify this one before the agent in case of urgent need. In this case, the agent will blindly obey the one who calls by his number and his letter. The agents who bear news to Rome will receive a reward, in addition to the costs of travel and living in Egypt, which, for one month, will be paid to them at their departure for this country. The modus operandi of members of the organization will be the following: they will seek jobs according to their different professions and skills close to military or civilian officials or persons, corporations or companies lying in relationship to themselves. By slipping into the confidence of their new bosses, they will cast about to learn everything that is going on in Egypt from the military and administrative point of view, notably about the plans of the English concerning the defense of the country or an attack on Ottoman territory. At the same time they will try to seize documents relating to it or to make a copy. They will also try to make the acquaintance of persons who may furnish them with intelligence on this subject. All means will be allowed towards this purpose. It will mainly be the duty of agents of the feminine sex, who should be young and not without charms, to put themselves in relation with influential well-informed persons who, perhaps in a moment of weakness born of a certain intimacy, let confidential information escape which may be useful to us. All the agents will be equally required to maintain good social relations with their Egyptian coreligionists, one certain clique of which, especially the Rolo, Mosseri, Catoni and Menasces families78 and some others, is on excellent terms with the majority of the high-ranking English civil servants. With respect to other persons whom they hobnob with, and to methods of approaching them, special detailed instructions will be given to the agents. All correspondence between the agents themselves and between them and other persons on political and military subjects will be avoided. Otherwise, it will be desirable that the agents, when going to Europe, avoid taking notes encrypted or written in invisible ink. It will always be preferable that the agent learns his communication by heart, that

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he only writes it in a safe place. In the case where it is essential to send documents in writing, they must be encoded in invisible ink and carried exclusively by women. The agents will entirely refrain from revolutionary propaganda in Egypt. It will be infinitely more important to have regular and exact information on the subject of the military and political situation than to risk this entire organization for the highly unlikely event of an Egyptian insurrection. It would be sufficient to initiate this propaganda two months before the reopening of operations against the Suez Canal. Meanwhile, it goes without saying that our agents will do their best to prepare the way for a revolution by spreading the war news from Ottoman, German and Austro– Hungarian sources. The dissemination of news will be achieved verbally. Signed, Pru¨fer Berlin, 23 March 1915.79 To the AA. Dr Pru¨fer is so necessary for my work in Syria80 that the achievement of the goals of my trip would become extraordinarily difficult without an immediate meeting and collaboration with him. Dr Pru¨fer was sent by me to Turkey with the permission of the Foreign Office at the beginning of the war, where a fixed program was created on the basis of an approximately 14-day deliberation. My current trip is a continuation of the same. He has frequently sent me direct communications separately from his official reports to the Foreign Office, as well as the imperial embassy in Constantinople, and it is obvious that I must have an oral report made by him to me as soon as I enter Syria anyway, and need to deliberate with him what is to be further developed now on the basis of his past experiences. Since Damascus must from now on become the center point of our propaganda activity, insofar as can be determined from afar, in order to create there a first-class Arabic Mohammedan newspaper in grander style than the existing one and so forth, it seems to me imperative, as a consequence, that Dr Pru¨fer must transfer his location to Damascus. I know him from Cairo many years ago, and he has once again proved that as a result of his exact knowledge of Arabic – Islamic conditions, as well as his conciliatory and prudent temper, he is

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extremely suitable for the work to be pursued by us. He could probably also be capably replaced by others in the Turkish army. It was allowed that he succeed in taking part in the Turkish expeditionary corps with official approval only because of the explicit stipulation that the other goals for which he has been sent to accomplish in Syria must not suffer through this. In actual fact, it was earlier determined that he would meet up there with me in Constantinople in an eventual visitation. It will be sufficient, though, in my view, if he puts himself at my disposal in Aleppo at the beginning of April, as soon as I can telegraphically inform him of my arrival there from Constantinople. I request the arrangement, therefore, in connection to the telegram No. 485 from the 14th of March to Constantinople, in which I petitioned Baron Wangenheim to put Dr Pru¨fer at my disposal during the time of my stay in Syria, perhaps for as long as about two to three months. It could be considered then whether his permanent sojourning in Damascus should become necessary while our military mission becomes suitably oriented, as I believe it is. At the same, this would mean, seemingly, a recovery for Dr Pru¨fer, who is rundown healthwise, and who without this will be physically weak. Oppenheim Jerusalem, 5 April 1915.81 To His Excellency the Imperial Ambassador Baron von Wangheim, Constantinople. The German comrade-in-arms sent with the expedition of Privy Councillor Frobenius82 to Abyssinia83 in the month of December of this year has arrived on the second of this month again in Jaffa, after the expedition received free escort from the leaders of the British and French fleets.84 Hall85 believes Herr Frobenius must be made responsible for the miscarrying of his mission. The arrangement between him and Frobenius was made in the presence of the imperial consul, Dr Lo¨ytved, obligating him only to accompany the expedition as far as the southern Arabian coast, and then he would be free to attempt to reach Abyssinia via Eritrea alone with his Abyssinian servant. Instead, he was hindered from obtaining a boat for the crossing from Qunfudha by Herr Frobenius in spite of all ideas from his side, because Herr Frobenius denied him the money needed for it. Herr

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Frobenius took the position that either all or none of the expedition members would be allowed to come to Abyssinia. Also, after the joint crossing over the Red Sea succeeded and the expedition arrived by luck in Massawa,86 Herr Frobenius made it impossible for him to go alone to Abyssinia, although at the beginning of the stay in Massawa, considerable difficulties in traveling further would have hardly precluded it. After a fruitless waiting time of one-and-a-half months, the expedition began the journey back, then, after getting a dispatch from the imperial embassy in Rome. Hall has asked me to inform Your Excellency of the foregoing, because he would have to refuse responsibility for the failure of his special mission under the present circumstances. The fact of the matter is that among other participants in the Frobenius expedition (Sami Bey, Emir Sa’id87), a fairly irritated mood also seems to exist against the leader of the expedition. I have the honor to enclose as a copy the report about Hall’s observations made on the return trip. Pru¨fer Report of the named S. Hall, German subject, who in coming from Massawa with safe-conduct pass from the Italian government, has crossed the Suez Canal on the 31st of the last month. The Porto di Adalia, on board which Hall traveled, encountered only one enemy warship, the French cruiser Desaix. In the port of Suez, two cruisers were anchored. During the entry of the ship into the port, Hall was forced to remain in his cabin. Since it was on the port side, he could see the eastern side of the canal. One half-hour after the entry of the boat into the canal, Hall noticed a large encampment of Australian soldiers, infantry and field artillery (two batteries in four pieces). There was also there, furthermore, an open shed clearly containing two hydroplanes. Two or three kilometers from this encampment, as far as the small basin of the Bitter Lakes, small camps of 20 tents and one or two cannons have been set up. The artillery pieces were surrounded by heaps of sand. In the large basin of the Bitter Lakes, Hall counted three warships. After the crossing of the large basin, he could no longer see anything because of the darkness of the night. He arrived in Port Sa’id around dawn. Five cruisers and the same number of transports were in the port.

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The English seaman who was supposed to monitor Hall in his cabin, and whom Hall had to convince that he was not German but Arab of Abyssinian origin,88 told him that, lately, 40,000 French soldiers arrived in Alexandria. These soldiers, who were very fatigued, were en route for 20 days. From Marseilles, they were transported to the Dardanelles, and from there to Alexandria. He did not know what would become of them now. They told them that they were destined for a second attack on the Dardanelles,89 while the others were pretending that they would be staying in Egypt. It was certain that the Indian troops were en route for Egypt from Europe, probably to replace the Australian soldiers, who were being prepared to be sent elsewhere. On the subject of the first Ottoman attack on the canal, the seaman said that it was never thought in Egypt and in England that the Turks would make it to the canal. The ship Hardinge, which was a commercial ship converted into an auxiliary cruiser, had been sunk during the battle. Now it is very commonly believed in Egypt that the preparations of the Turks will not be serious, that we want to tie down forces in Egypt to prevent their being sent to Europe (“They only wont to tacke us”). For the last few days, all the commercial ships passing through the canal have been provided with a quantity of sand bags destined to protect the bridge from gunfire. The same seaman also told Hall that in the naval battle of Heligoland,90 in which he had taken part aboard the Union, his ship had been sunk and that several of the large cruisers were so badly damaged that they had to be towed by the others.91 Pru¨fer Pera, 6 April 1915.92 The Imperial Ambassador to the Foreign Office. General consulate Jerusalem wires today: “Salomon Hall with nine Muhammedan POWs has arrived here. Where should they be brought? Jerusalem is unsuitable because of the many foreigners and unreliable elements. I suggest Damascus”.93 I have asked that Herr Schmidt get in contact initially with Djemal Pasha and Dr Pru¨fer and get their opinion. Wangenheim

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Pera, 12 April 1915.94 The Imperial Ambassador to the Foreign Office. General Consulate Jerusalem wires on the 8th of the month: “Report Doctor Pru¨fer: agents95 Maurice Rothschild,96 Jack Cohn,97 Minna Weizmann98 traveled from here to Egypt, will report back on return to the imperial embassy in Rome and send there other agents subordinated to them.99 Request notification of the embassy about it and arrange the sending back of the agents to Palestine, in case they ask for them.” Wangenheim

13 April 1915100 To the AA. Herr Gustav Mez101 out of Cairo, who is staying right now in Switzerland,102 is indicating that the connection between Egypt and the Sudan and between Port Sudan103 and Berber104 could easily be disrupted, according to a statement just reaching him from an Egyptian official who is being forced from his post by the English. On the track between ‘Abu Hamad105 and Wadi Halfa,106 there are only four to five posts of native soldiers. The whole 400 kilometer-long track is absolutely free of English and lies in a sand desert. The Arab merchants from Dunqula107 constantly traverse this area and proceed to Jidda. The traffic going that way is continuing even during the war. In everything, the Dunqulanis, moreover, can be had for money.108 You can recruit about 50 men from them in Jidda, and with these destroy both the Wadi Halfa– ‘Abu Hamad and Port Sudan– Berber railways. Also, pamphlets could be smuggled in via Dunqula to both the north and the south. In the Sudan, only Egyptian troops serve under English officers. The Egyptian soldiers are dissatisfied with the English rule and easy to move to revolt.109 Herr Mez thinks that Dr Pru¨fer is in the position to carry out the action successfully with the help of the Dunqulanis. Also, it seems that Har Dayal110 and the Egyptian ‘Isma’il Lavie, who is working with him, and Husni are in the position to establish the necessary connections.

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Leaving it to your discretion to have Dr Pru¨fer informed accordingly. Nadolny To the AA. Both the severing of the 478-kilometer long Port Sudan– Berber track and the severing of the 373-kilometer long Wadi Halfa– ‘Abu Hamad railroad line is possible with the means given to Herr Mez. Both tracks lead through the desert and savannah region, the guarding of which, particularly in the summer, has been really impossible. On both lines, there are only a few stations occupied by natives, which are not settlements, but well facilities for supplying machinery. Between Port Sudan and Berber, the English have established a number of so-called rest houses as well (Sinkat, Summit) which are also uninhabitable for Europeans, though, in the frightfully hot summertime. On the ‘Abu Hamad– Wadi Halfa track, six well facilities are available. The most effective severing of this connection would doubtless not be the rippingup of the tracks, but a destruction of the wells by a blocking or filling-in of the wells, which on average are 30 meters deep. The barque traffic between the Arabian coast and the Sudan is only barely controlled. Along the length of the coast, the few enemy war vessels that cruise there are not capable of hindering the natives from crossing the Red Sea, particularly at night. Less easy to assess is the question of whether a severing of the rail connection between Egypt, the Red Sea and the Sudan would bring military advantage. The arising of revolt in the Sudan through the fact of a railway demolition, which is presumably quick to repair, is barely likely, and the population, as a result of the poor connections, would presumably not get word of it before the damage would be put right again. A military revolt among the Egyptian troops in the Sudan can hardly be contemplated. After the previous experiences, discipline and habit have proved themselves much stronger than religious and patriotic motives. Nothing at all is to be accomplished with leaflets among the Egyptians, who are cowardly by nature. During the frequent skirmishes between Turkish and Egyptian troops at the Suez Canal, no case of mutiny or desertion of the Egyptians has occurred. A destruction of the Sudan Railway at the moment of the attack on the Suez Canal would be of great usefulness, because not only would the enemy’s connections with the hinterland111 be destroyed in this critical

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moment, but it could also give rise to a panic in the country itself, because the morale of the troops fighting at the canal could have an unfavorable influence. The view that the Egyptians are uninformed about the war situation is incorrect. From the newspapers arriving here from Cairo and Alexandria, you can see that the English are indeed anxious to portray the events in a favorable light for them in order to conceal their heavy losses at the Dardanelles and elsewhere. This would be impossible for you, then, because the truth would come into the light of day very soon through the arrival of many wounded in Egypt.112 Pru¨fer113 Rome, 15 April 1915114 The Imperial Ambassador to the AA. “Agent Maurice Rothschild, intelligent, resolute, reported to me today after coming from Cairo. In Egypt, there are 60,000 Australians, 12,000 New Zealanders, 42,000 Territorials,115 12,000 Turcos,116 8,000 French, 25,000 Indians, 18,000 Egyptians under generals Maxwell, Carruthers, Birdwood, Ryan, Walker, Amade, St Chentin, Maurorps, Reymond.117 Headquarters Shepheard’s Hotel118 in Cairo, with whose manager agent has relationship with. Manager questioned him about the military situation in Ghaza, Bir as-Saba, Jerusalem, Ramla near Jaffa, Haifa, Lebanon and Beirut, where the headquarters of Djemal and the Germans is located. Australians have recently mutinied, since they would rather go to France than to Asia Minor. Agent has become convinced that landing in Palestine is planned. Dardanelles threat is said to be pulling troops away from this. He is trying to get back to Egypt again, and in case this attempt is unsuccessful, will travel via Italy to Turkey. Military Attache”. Bu¨low119 Jerusalem, 15 May 1915.120 To His Excellency the Imperial Ambassador Baron von Wangenheim, Constantinople. During my short stay in Jerusalem, I had the opportunity to speak with the commander of the desert armed forces, Colonel Baron von Kress, about the military situation in the 4th Army zone. Baron von

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Kress is of the view that a new attack on the British positions at the Suez Canal would not at all be impossible, provided certain preconditions are met. The greatest pledge of success of a new expedition would still be, in his opinion, the placing of ample financial resources from Germany at our disposal, and that the guarantee would be given that this resource would really benefit the expedition, and not supply other projects in Constantinople. It would be also necessary that all war materiel, particularly engineer and foot artillery materiel, be provided from Germany, or alternatively Austria. The disposition of mountain artillery batteries from the Allied Monarchy would be strongly desirable. A participation of Austria– Hungary in the expedition preparations seems strongly desirable to Herr von Kress, principally for political reasons. As I can testify, there is an opinion spreading in broad circles here through enemy agents that Germany is pursuing its own selfish ends in Syria and Palestine, that it continues to strive to get a political foothold by means of a display of military power. The army and especially the population are in a high degree war-weary.121 The dominant opinion of most is that the Ottoman government has been rushed by Germany into an adventure that is bringing to the country the heaviest of losses but few benefits.122 The declaration of holy war, at least here, was an unqualified fiasco. The population has remained uniformly indifferent in religious and national affinity in spite of all attempts at agitation. The burdens of the war will grow all the more heavy, especially with the levy and with the requisitions, which were set about in a way that was by no means incorrupt or impartial.123 Neither troops nor suppliers are regularly paid. For all this ill, German military authorities in the country are held responsible. Remedy can only be made by being forced by Constantinople to do so with German monies out of the payment for salaries and supplies. The ill humor throughout has been further increased by Germans repeatedly being sent here who in no way rose to their task morally and militarily/ technically. Ignorance and an arrogant attitude, but most of all, lack of self-discipline on the part of some men here up until recently have seriously damaged our cause, and has given rise to dislike and mistrust against the German officers in the Turkish officer corps.124 On the other hand, there is a lack of qualified German forces, making it necessary for useful officers to be placed in positions they were unqualified for.

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In the months of March to May, despite reasonably more favorable climate conditions, the preparations for the main expedition have made only little progress. There is a lack of means of transport, labor forces, and above all, of money for creating remedy for it. The closer the hot time of year gets, the lighter the burdens become. Since the officers and the soldiers in the desert could not be relieved as a result of the evacuation to the north, and because of the stripping of the country of useful troops,125 the condition of health in the desert zone is alarming. Heat126 and bad food constitute the best preconditions for already present epidemic diseases: fleck typhus, dysentery and the relapse of fever. Herr von Kress fears therefore that it can hardly become possible to remedy the bad state of affairs before December or January in order to repeat the attack.127 The carrying out of further skirmishing expeditions128 against the canal in the future will become impossible. Outfitting and training of the forces still available after the recall of the XIV Army Corps make every further advance not only impossible to carry out, but would probably also make the ‘Arish– ‘Ibni– Nakhl line129 impossible to hold in an English attack. From the recall of the good troops previously available here, the population has drawn pessimistic conclusions about the situation at the Dardanelles. It is only too natural that a stultifying effect upon the officers and men of the troops remaining here was created through these actions. No one believes in a repeat of the expedition against Egypt any more. There are rumors here that Djemal Pasha is to be recalled. In spite of all serious mistakes that were made through the administrative activities of the minister of the navy internally, despite the ill-humor rampant in every strata of the population against his draconian actions which emphasize the purely Turkish point of view, Baron von Kress believes that his recall would be a blunder in military respects. Baron von Kress considers Djemal Pasha the only man in Turkey who possesses sufficient personal ambition and the brutal energy to guarantee the turningaround of the second expedition, to which his vanity clings. Only he would be able to force the officers to the task and overcome the passive resistance of civil authorities and lukewarmness of the population. In conclusion, allow me to call attention to one particular nuisance. It consists of the well-founded suspicion that all mail, even the official mail, is being controlled by Turkish officials.130 Just recently, Colonel von Kress was presented with a copy of a letter of a local German staff

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officer directed to a German officer’s wife in Constantinople with the request of a reprimand for the man concerned, because the letter contained snide comments about Turkish affairs. Under the threat of such an expansion of censorship, a frank and objective reporting is becoming impossible. I am therefore honored to dutifully make, Your Excellency, the suggestion to establish a regular courier service here, perhaps in joint action with the Austro– Hungarian government, among whose consular officials in the country there exists the same desire. Allow me to most humbly point out that I was also asked repeatedly by the German military authorities to lodge a complaint with Your Excellency along these lines. Pru¨fer

28 June 1915 Deputy General Staff of the Army, Department IIIb, Policy Section, Berlin to the AA, Berlin.131 An agent Rothschild sent by Dr Pru¨fer to Egypt has arrived here, and has set his investigations down in the duplicate attached written report. It is respectfully requested that you have a copy sent to the imperial embassy in Constantinople and the military attache´ respectively (eventually for passing on to Dr Pru¨fer), together with the request that the responsible Turkish authorities be notified because of the arrests advised in the report’s conclusion. A package containing Egyptian newspapers is likewise enclosed. Rothschild, who makes a trustworthy impression, will travel in the next few days to Dr Pru¨fer and personally report at the embassy in Pera on his transit through Egypt. Wolpmann Statement from agent Rothschild. The agent and American citizen Rothschild, who has returned from Egypt via Holland, reports the following: “Earlier in the war, I was in Egypt, and at that time made a report to the military attache´ in Rome, Major von Schweidnitz, particularly about the insubordinations of the Australian troops in Lower Egypt.132 My new journey to Egypt I undertook on behalf of Herr Pru¨fer, and indeed, I was primarily supposed to determine whether the Entente

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powers were intending to land in Palestine. I arrived in Port Sa’id on 11 May, and stayed there until 2 June. I didn’t dare go further into the interior, since I had to fear my being known from my first trip there. At that time, they placed me in detention in Cairo for several days. I bought olive wood artworks in Port Sa’id, and under this smokescreen, had the opportunity to come into contact with many people. I got to know there a Russian Jew by the name of Katz from Imtulla in Beirut whose trust I was able to gain. Katz revealed himself as an English spy who for his part, as a knowledgeable expert on all Palestine, had the mission of seeking out the most appropriate place where a landing of the English could be attempted. Katz had drawn up an entire plan, which he had turned over to the English. The English general staff let him come to Cairo in order to discuss the details of the plan with him, which the general staff declared to be good. It was decided that Katz with some military personnel, the English flyer Paul among them, proceed then and there, so that these could make a more accurate assessment about the plan. In the meantime, I don’t know whether Katz has left for there with these people.133 According to the plan, English troops are supposed to land between Sidon and Tyre, advance to Damascus, and destroy the railway connections there. Simultaneously, the French are supposed to carry out a landing at El Eskell in order to cut the railway connection to Aleppo.134 As Katz told me, an execution of the plan is coming, as he has heard, only in the circumstance in question: either the Turks having to strip bare all of southern Palestine inclusive of the Sinai peninsula of troops as a result of the Dardanelles battles, or in a new campaign of the Turks against the Suez canal, which is under consideration for the beginning of the winter in order to sever the rear area connections to the Turks. The general staff in Cairo believes that as long as Palestine is in the hands of the Turks, the situation of Egypt is endangered. I have further heard about the campaigns in Persia135 and Mesopotamia,136 that the Russians want to extend their hand from the north, from Lake Van137 down towards the English, who are thrusting northwards from Basra, in order to cut the Turks off from their connection with Persia, Afghanistan and India. The English and Russian troops are said to be heavily reliant on positioning themselves well with the native shaykhs. I heard this news from people in Egypt who have good connections to the English commander Maxwell.

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From the same source I heard that the Russians want to land in Midia in order to advance from there to Constantinople. Furthermore, the English have supposedly adopted the old plan of landing at Enos in order to proceed from there against Constantinople via Adrianople.138 These I have also heard from Greeks employed at the Greek consulate. The Greeks, by the way, feel very strongly, as they said to me repeatedly, that the English could only win the Dardanelles with their help. During my stay in Port Sa’id, probably around 40,000 wounded have arrived from the Dardanelles. They have been put up in numerous hospitals in Lower Egypt, and a portion were moved to Malta as well. During that same time period, according to my estimation, about 70,000 to 80,000 men were transported to the Dardanelles. Only about 20,000 men are said to still be in all of Lower Egypt. Large guns have been set up at Milh on the Suez Canal and at the entrance to Port Sa’id. Various armored trains were moved to the Dardanelles. The Italians have registered 42 steamships with troop transports for transiting through the canal, but I believe that they do not so much concern troops from Eritrea as Australians, which they believe are being transported more safely under Italian flag, because Italy indeed is still not at war with Turkey. A battle took place at the Suez Canal on 28 May,139 but particulars about it are not known to me. Turkish troops who wanted to demolish telegraphs west of the canal on a different day have been taken prisoner. Indian troops who wanted to desert to the Turks have been seized and shot. About the general mood in Egypt, I cannot report much, since the people are afraid to say something. The Egyptians, who are not particularly adventurous anyway, can in my opinion hardly undertake something since they can’t count on success of an uprising while completely unarmed. Indeed, as soon as the Turks were supposed to come over the Suez Canal, the Egyptians would turn against the English. I don’t want to leave unmentioned that on 25 May, a brawl is said to have occurred in Alexandria between Indians and Egyptians, because the latter made those accusations that they were fighting for the English cause as Mohammedans. The mood of the troops at the Dardanelles must be very downcast, since I repeatedly heard from wounded that they believed the Dardanelles could not be taken.

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I have heard that the English have made promises to the Italians about Smyrna in case they succeed in taking it”. Rothschild recommended that the following people be arrested for espionage. (1) Shukri Musa in Jaffa. (2) Katz from Imtulla in Beirut. (3) ‘Ali Khamis, “Head of the port people”. He advises further that we watch (4) Sacks, Jerusalem, Hotel Amdursky. (5) Chayesmann of Singer Machine Company. Finally, he is still warning against our agent Kretschmar going to Egypt because he is expected by the police.140

16 July 1915141 The agent sent to Egypt by Dr Pru¨fer, Isaac Cohn,142 has turned over the report on the following pages. He is placing himself at disposal for any mission (traveling to England). Dr Pru¨fer has requested to send him back. Report of Herr I.C. I arrived with the Italian steamer Jaffa on the 20 April from Jaffa to Alexandria.143 The border control was relatively easy for me by reason of my identification as an American citizen, and also because of my ID, since I was a member of the United States Army for three years. While all the rest of the passengers had to spend the night on board after arrival, I could leave the ship and repair to the city. I alighted in the Majestic Hotel, because all English officers have taken their lodgings there. In this hotel, there also lives, among others, Catoni144 with wife and two children, who is now private secretary for the chief of the secret service in Alexandria. His task is to check incoming ships for spies, contraband, etc. The outgoing boats are checked by Govanini, who comes from the Italian145 intelligence bureau but works for England. The leadership of the entire secret service in Egypt lies in the hands of an English major with the name of Hopkinson Pasha.146

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A certain Ingram147 is assigned to him, likewise British. Hopkinson speaks Scottish. The above-mentioned Govanini is the third-highest official in the secret service. The sequence is: Hopkinson, Ingram, Govanini. I remained a few days in Alexandria, where I lived in the Majestic Hotel. I utilized my time in making excursions and getting insight into the British preparations. The first thing that stood out was a newly built pier against the open sea, at which workers are still busy. The sea makes there a small bay; on the other side of the bay, there is an old, approximately 1 – 1.2-meter-high wall which connects one fort with another (as far as I could determine, based on the map with Herr J.C., it is the Grand Port of Anciennes). The two forts are certainly Fort Qait Bey and Fort Silsileh.148 From land outwards, standing in the middle of the bay, there is on the right hand (i.e., in the vicinity of Fort Silsileh) behind the wall, which has no loopholes whatsoever, about 25 cannons, and indeed one of a new variety. As I was able to determine, there is a new type of 5- or 6-inch gun that had arrived from Australia a few days before my arrival. I have seen the cannons myself in the presence of an English officer and had it explained to me by this gentleman. It attracted attention particularly by the nature of its massive construction. The wheels are made out of full wooden discs, out of which single pieces are cut for the sake of the reduction of weight. These wheels may have had a diameter of 1.3 to 1.4 meters. Its thickness may have amounted to about 30 cm. They are different colors, e.g., red and green, perhaps also yellow, painted with a floral pattern. The wheel gauge of this new cannon is about 30 cm broader than that of the old type, about 25 of which stand in Fort Silsileh. The new Australian gun has two barrels, of which the lower one (they are laid one on top of the other) is about 25 cm longer than the upper one. The lower one is much thicker in size. The length of the tubes may have amounted to approximately two meters. Behind the fort that was attached to the above-mentioned wall, probably Fort Silsileh, stand four heavy guns. In front of these heavy guns and behind the above-mentioned light guns of the old type, the signal corps is stationed, which has about 150 automobiles at its disposal. These automobiles are without exception American cars, indeed: Overland and Ford (about 50 vans, 100 personal autos). Furthermore, this corps has about 70 to 75 motor bikes. The soldiers are armed with short

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carbines and everyone has 200 rounds which they carry diagonally over the breast and around the belt. As in general in all Egypt, aside from maybe 500 British, all the rest of the soldiers are Australians and New Zealanders. In port at the quarantine station, there is situated another camp of Australian and New Zealand troops. In Alexandria, throughout the whole city, I estimate distributed troop quantities at 8,000 men. In port, there is currently a Russian warship with five smokestacks and a French cruiser. All the big hotels and all schools are converted into hospitals. I have been able to confirm in Alexandria only two companies of French soldiers, which bore the numbers 36 and 9. Also, I saw some soldiers who bore the number 5. Individuals among these soldiers spoke Arabic, for which reason I took them for Tunisians. Of the above-mentioned guns of the new type, some more (around 25) arrived in the middle of May, which were sent together with Australian horses to the Dardanelles. The mood of the Egyptian population in Alexandria is generally without exception against the British, so the entire police had to be completely reorganized by removing all Egyptians and replacing them with British and Italians. One still found here and there an Egyptian, but still paired with an Englishman who had to monitor him. The entire secret police, with the exception of both of the above-mentioned British, consisted of Italians. One day, the sultan published a proclamation, in which the Egyptians were requested to report for army service. It actually succeeded in mustering 125 Egyptian men out of the different cities of all of Egypt. From this, a company was formed and was brought to Alexandria. At first, it was said to the soldiers they would only be drilled in order to then remain in Egypt. One day, however, they announced arrangements to embark them. One of the Egyptians stepped forward and asked in the name of his comrades what they were going to do with them. It was communicated to him that an order had come to send them to the Dardanelles. All the men on board refused to go on the grounds that their religion forbade them to fight their co-religionists. No persuasion helped at all. Then the British held a short trial. While an Australian company was blocking up the entrances to the port, a different company armed itself with long ox whips and drove the Egyptians under raw blows onto the ship149. An Arabic newspaper, which in its columns mentioned this action only in passing action, was fined some one thousand pounds, the editor thrown in prison for a month. On my

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trip to Cairo, I saw behind the embankment at a distance of about 150 meters a trench dug out about 400 meters long. Whether still more earthworks existed in this area, I could not determine. At every station between Alexandria and Cairo, there was about one company, in the crossing station of the railway to Port Sa’id, one battalion. Headquarters is in Cairo, where there are the main warehouses for munitions and victuals. Transport to the Dardanelles goes only via Alexandria. Cairo is completely quiet. The city is divided up into eight police stations. Every station sends out patrols of 20 men and one officer. Weapons: carbines and whips. As to soldiers, there may be in Cairo and the surrounding area 6 – 7,000 men. In the big brawl in the fish market, it is said that nine men and several officers were killed. An entire street has gone up in flames. The damage is estimated at four million marks. From Cairo, I traveled to Port Sa’id. Strictly watched. As to war ships: one Italian, two French (one old, one new type) and English cruiser. There was also one company of Indians (without number). At the end of the canal, about 40 cannons of larger calibers, and in the canal, one English cruiser. Further along the canal, about 100 machine guns. From the city to the canal, there stretches a roofed trench. The inspection of the population is strict. Forbidden to talk with natives. I took poll of feeling and found overall the hope spread that the Germans would succeed in coming to Egypt. The British are incredibly hated. I would estimate the troop numbers at 8,000 men. Furthermore, 2,000 riding camels and 2,000 horses and mules. I would estimate the troop strength in Egypt being at the highest 30,000 men. Because they didn’t let me return to Jerusalem, I tried to get permission to travel to America via Italy. Only after several weeks, during which I was constantly observed and was repeatedly questioned, when they tried by all means to force me to the confession that I was working together with Dr Pru¨fer, did Maxwell allow me to travel. I was brought by four policemen to the ship and allowed to interact with no one. Luckily, I succeeded early on in destroying all incriminating notes and books with secret notations. In Alexandria, Catoni had offered to have me work for the British service. I wanted to accept in order to collect more more reliable intelligence for Dr Pru¨fer. Some agents however hindered the realization of this plan, and were suspecting me of being a German spy. In Alexandria, there are some Syrians by the name of Schluch, Amsellik and a Russian Jew, Klusskin,

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agent of the Orient Palestine Wine Co. These practiced letter censorship of the Syrian letters. In Jaffa, there is a German doctor (name forgotten) and a certain Jellim in Jerusalem (at the Zionist School). These gather information and send it through the American embassy in Constantinople via Berlin, Italy to Egypt. In Beirut there is a family Mischakki (a brother is situated in Alexandria). This family gives reports through the brother to Catoni. By speaking about wine, oranges, etc., the censor doesn’t find out. One thousand EB of apple cider, of which a half spoiled, a third completely spoiled ¼ 1,000 men, half wounded, a third dead. According to my information, I consider also the man of the American Gas Company in Jaffa, a Greek, and the Italian shipping agent of the same, as British spies. On my trip through Switzerland, I met in Zu¨rich a certain Charles Webber from Philadelphia, PA, who lives in the Stadthof Hotel. This one receives from a German firm (Merk, or something similar) two packets of chemicals worth about 80,000 marks, which he brought to Italy. Interlaken, 3 August 1915.150 Highly honored Dr Ziemke.151 Through the kind intercession of the Turkish attache´ at the legation in Bucharest who visited here, Nuri Zia Bey, this note is allowed to come to you without passing through the censor. On my journey home, I made the acquaintance of a very nice young Polish woman doctor who worked in the large hospitals in Cairo and Alexandria.152 She was in constant contact with the greatest number of personages – English, French and Russian – and was exploiting this for the advantage of Germany. She worked earnestly with a certain Dr Pru¨fer or Priefer – can’t recollect the name very well any more. She is very well known to your embassy, is named Miss Minna Weizmann from Warsaw. In order to have the opportunity to see the German ambassador von Bu¨low in Rome, she was accompanying a badly wounded Frenchman from Cairo to Naples as a nurse. From there she went to Rome, and was straightaway received by the ambassador, invited herself to dinner. But then she was spotted by a fellow countryman and betrayed. She was sent back to Cairo, relieved of her position, everything confiscated from her, and was supposed to have been banished to Malta,153 but she

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was so beloved in Cairo and Alexandria and held in respect to such an extent that people gave her unwavering denial credence. The Russian consul vouched for her and asked for her return home to Russia. As far as Sofia, she was under strict surveillance, and because they were certain that an escape to Turkey or to Austria/Germany with a Russian passport was impossible, they left her alone. In the hotel in Bucharest, she revealed everything to me and begged me fervently to inform the German embassy in Constantinople of her deportation, especially that Herr Pru¨fer should be advised about this. From the Russian border, she received a ticket, and now, according to a letter from the charge´ which apparently was supposed to have already gone out three days before but had not arrived here, news: the poor thing is not allowed to go back to her home city Warsaw, but is detained in a Russian village and is suffering fearfully. Everything was naturally written in the letter in such a way that you have to read between the lines. She was not allowed to declare the address of the fortress to me. I must reply to Warsaw and the French. At the time, von Bu¨low said to her: “What you did and accomplished for Germany, especially concerning the Suez Canal affair, will make you immortal in Germany after the war”. And now, the poor thing is suffering so much and cherishes the devout desire that the two embassies would be informed from here, and I was glad to render her this service, naturally, without strings attached and with the strongest discretion.154 Should Herr Pru¨fer or the embassy want to have anything known, please ask me to communicate it in such a way, then, as to avoid naming names and place. You may pardon, worthy Herr Doctor, the circumstance that sent me to you, but it was such a delicate, difficult mission, for which there was really only one personage known to me to whom I dared to step forward and confide in, especially through Nuri Zia Bey, and now, it can be made much easier. Yours faithfully, Frau Hilla Steinbach-Schuh, Interlaken Jerusalem, 6 August 1915.155 To the AA. Lately, the preparations for a repetition of the Suez Canal expedition are taking on more solid form again.156 This second attack on Egypt

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holds great and, indeed, perhaps even decisive significance for the war with England, so as a participant in the first expedition, I consider it my duty to point out some common fallacies that prevail even now regarding the resource strength required for the campaign. First of all, as far as the transport question is concerned, it is in my view totally out of the question to undertake the passage through the desert again using only camels as beasts of burden for forage and material as we did the first time. Even then, the difficulties of the nature of transport were extraordinarily great, although the army to be supplied was barely 20,000 men strong. The procurement of the required number of beasts alone was possible only with the expenditure of tremendous financial resources and after arduous and time-consuming searching. Consequently, the provisioning of the camels in the desert proved to be a problem, which considerably diminished the value of the beasts as pack animals. Every camel column carrying food supplies for the troops in turn needs a column of provisions for its own upkeep, which also must be fed. With this system, a quite unusual expenditure of beasts of burden is going to be necessary for the conveyance of comparatively insubstantial loads. Irregularities and interruptions of supply naturally don’t fail to materialize as a result of the high mortality of the beasts through exertion and insufficient feeding, and they bring the advance of the troops to a standstill in the most annoying manner. The greater the number of men that is to be moved forward, the more the required number of camels must also naturally grow. Apart from the fact that it is barely probable that we could muster the necessary multitude of these animals in the country, their provisioning might also not be possible from the available forage stocks. We will be forced, then, to base the transport system on mechanical means of locomotion, even though we will not entirely be able to dispense with camels as means of conveyance for in-between sections. The railroad, which is now completed from Sabastiyyeh to Ramla,157 will be able to advance in the best-case scenario to Beersheba. From there to the old Egyptian border at Hafir el ‘Awja, a drivable road is under construction, the completion of which we can probably count on by the beginning of the winter. Disagreements are rampant about the extension of the further part, by far the most difficult part of the staging route through the desert from Hafir to the canal. The laying of a military railway, which has been considered, hardly promises success, because on

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the one hand, its conveyance capabilities might hardly suffice, and on the other hand, the danger of the silting-up of the narrow tracks is indisputable, which in the short time available cannot adequately be secured through suitable protective structures. There are currently two further undertakings, the railway out of wooden planks and reinforced sheet panels extended for the operation of vehicles and vans, and the construction of a so-called Roman road out of resting stone slabs with a meager foundation. For both projects, a period of construction of three months is estimated. While for the first proposal, the question about the possibility of procuring materials in the countryside plays a role, the carrying-out of the second project may be possible with local, technical resources, supposing sufficient financial resources and workers being made available. The costs of the wooden railway, together with 250 trucks and operations personnel, are estimated at around ten million marks. The expenditures required for the Roman road may presumably exceed this amount. That’s why the construction of a drivable staging road through the desert will be all the more necessary, because the objective of the expedition has needed to change since the previous winter.158 During that time, the mission would really have been viewed as fulfilled with a blocking of the canal to be achieved through a surprise attack of the enemy, but today the conquest of Egypt and the Sudan must necessarily be exacted as bargaining chips vis-a`-vis the English occupation of our colonies, and as a gateway to Uganda and British East Africa.159 A surprise of the enemy in his canal positions, which have doubtlessly been built up more strongly in the meantime and protected by all modern means – armored trains, warships and aviators – cannot be contemplated. We will have to prepare ourselves for a proper siege and gradual reduction of enemy positions before we can force the canal line and march into Egypt. Because we must expect that we will have to lie a longer time in front of the canal as a result of this, the availability of a fast and regularly functioning transportation option for foodstuffs and ammunition, as well as other war materiel, is a compelling necessity. Above all, though, the maintenance of the connection with the operational base of Palestine–Syria through an efficient staging road will also be necessary after the conquest of Egypt. At this point, I must not refrain from opposing the view that only through the permanent blocking of the Suez Canal would the English be seriously harmed.

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The sea route around the Cape of Good Hope constitutes no more than a three-week loss of time compared to the Suez Canal route. This means an additional expenditure of coal and, up until the change of total traffic with India and Australia, the loss in time indicated, but nothing more. A further vital requirement for undertaking the traversing of the desert is the sufficient provisioning of the troops with potable water. It is utterly out of the question that the marching-through of large masses of troops should be dependent on the few available water sources and the supplies of water through camel columns, as was the case in the first expedition. There may only be one solution to the water question: the drilling of artesian wells at the staging locations. The attempts made so far in this respect have obtained inadequate results because the strong drilling materials needed to quickly penetrate to sufficient depth are lacking. The early procurement of such materials from Germany is therefore of greatest importance. As for the question of the forces with which the future expedition should be undertaken, the views apparently diverge substantially. Under the impression of the fact that the canal line is currently only weakly occupied, and that as a result of this, some successes like the destruction of patrols, the bombardment of commercial ships and above all the laying of mines was possible, some German officers who did not participate in the first expedition are of the view that by attacking various positions with weak infantry forces and some field artillery, we could force the water course while simultaneously blocking the canal with mines.160 This view must be opposed in the strongest way. The enemy is perfectly well-informed about our troop strengths, allowing him to confidently spare himself the exertion of garrisoning the canal more strongly in the face of the current stripping of this country of troops. It is, then, not to be doubted that the English, as soon as they have become convinced of a serious threat, will again throw great masses of troops into Egypt, which is so important to them, be it from the Dardanelles or from the motherland. With all preparations completed, though, our march to the canal would require at least 14 days from here, a time in which the English would have ample opportunity to confront us with corresponding land and sea power. We would be surrounded, then, with fierce resistance from the outset. In the first attack, the primary problem was the superiority of the enemy in heavy artillery. The enemy can effortlessly assemble considerable squadrons in the lakes

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through which the Suez Canal flows. Such artillery makes the crossing and staying in the vicinity of the canal for any length of time impossible without corresponding counter fire. The first requirement, therefore, will be the availability of heavy artillery that is at least evenly matched with that of the enemy. On the evening of 4 February, eight enemy war vessels lay in the Timsa district of the Great Bitter Lake. Heavy land batteries were apparently not available, and were not supposed to have been brought to Egypt until now. We will hardly calculate too highly, therefore, if we require for the next attack at least the same number of heavy batteries whose caliber is sufficient for penetrating the deck armor of a modern warship. Add to that mortars, field artillery and machine guns, as numerous as possible. Not until the enemy resistance is broken through artillery fire superiority will we be able to cross the canal with infantry. For this we need trained engineer troops outfitted with modern material, not a bridge and pontoon train laboriously pieced together in the countryside and operated by unskilled people, as in the first attack. Furthermore, special formations for the field telegraph and the telephone system are required to maintain communications to the rear and along the 160-kilometer front. Although leading an army of ten divisions through the desert in a train – of which there is now talk in the General High Command of the 4th Army – will be hardly doable because of difficulties with supply, about 50,000 men would have to be available for the first push; the rest would have to follow after in squadrons. For the reconnaissance and harassment of the enemy, aviators are vital. The 100-meter-broad watercourse of the canal hinders every other reconnoitering. The first expedition suffered heavily because of this lack. We don’t need aviators of the sort, as are now available here, whose old contraptions are thrown together from tin plate and rope, and whose skill consists in making these contraptions still more unusable through crashing than they already are. With regard to the type of troops, the recruiting of contingents in the countryside will be completely abandoned. The Arabs are, as experience has taught, fire-shy and barely motivated for the Ottoman cause. They would be left behind for the securing of their own country, Palestine and Syria, against a possible enemy rear attack. For the attack on Egypt, only Turkish troops with the most numerous German officers possible would be used. We should have disregarded all irregulars, volunteers, bedouins and other adventurers. With these people, we have had only the worst

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experiences because they were indeed prepared for plundering and for other types of dirty money-making, but never for the risking of their lives for fatherland and religion, of which they just are not capable. Frequently the demand for German troops has become loud.161 Although I am not of the view that these would necessarily be vital, it would nevertheless, in my humble opinion, be desirable if, apart from German special troops for engineer, flight and transport systems, at least some regiments of infantry participated in the expedition to give the army a secure grip. I cannot share the opinion that – provided the establishment of an efficient staging road – German soldiers could not negotiate the 200-kilometer-long desert march in the winter. In my experience, we suffered more under cold conditions in January and February of the year than from heat. The financial side of the operation would also have to be sorted out. In accordance with the practice of the country, we may harbor no illusions that all resources from Germany allocated for war purposes are immediately being devoted to this goal.162 It would be strongly desirable, then, if these resources would lay under German control in the future. In conclusion, it should be noted that the time for the expedition, in terms of the preparation of the staging route, can really not be scheduled for earlier than the month of January of next year, completely apart from the fact that weather and water conditions make it seem disadvantageous. The favorable time for the attack lies between the beginning of January and the end of March. A further postponement could be fatal because of the great heat and sandstorms setting in at that time. Dr Pru¨fer Damascus, 10 December 1915.163 To His Excellency the Imperial Ambassador Count WolffMetternich,164 Constantinople. Your Excellency, I am honored to present in the enclosure a copy of the report which I have made to Djemal Pasha about a trip undertaken at his order through Syria and Palestine. The trip had the goal of determining whether the internal political situation, above all the antiTurkish mood of the Arabs,165 makes necessary the establishment of a

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military-political security service disassociated from the civilian authorities. Although I am not at all of the view that the old Turkophobia of the Arab Mohammedan rooted in economics should suddenly be changed into its reverse for patriotic or religious motives – the materialistic disposition of the Arabs always found their expression more in fine words than in deeds – I nonetheless consider the danger of Arab machinations to be too slight to counsel Djemal Pasha to take extraordinary measures in the face of the clearly perceptible strengthening of government authority and of the cowardliness and absentmindedness of the population. Add to this the consideration that a secret political police could get out of hand here more easily than elsewhere in the realm of informers and sycophantic creatures. Pru¨fer Damascus, 5 December 1915. To His Excellency, the General Djemal Pasha, Commander in Chief of the 4th Army and Minister of the Navy. I have the honor to submit to Your Excellency in the following a report that contains some observations that I had the occasion to make during a one-month trip that, on the order of Your Excellency, led me into the cities of Haifa, Beirut166 and Damascus. I venture to add here some proposals concerning measures relative to the security of the country. In all three cities which I visited and where, as a simple traveler167 devoid of any official character, I maintained relations with many persons of all the parties, I could see that the Christian population is nearly unanimous in its sympathy for the Entente powers.168 By virtue of the semi-European education received by these individuals in the religious or secular French or English schools, their partiality orients itself to either one or the other of the two powers. Only some few civil servants who see their interest lying with that of the government seem to be favorable to the latter. It would be a waste of time to suggest now the remedy of this evil. Its roots are too profoundly penetrated into the mentality of these people to be suddenly torn out. Happily, their cowardice which hinders them from trying to achieve their dreams, surpasses their capacity for treason. There will be under the current

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government, in my opinion, then, little probability of criminal endeavors on the part of Christians in Syria. Furthermore, in the closing of most of the religious schools, the hotbed of anti-Ottoman unrest has disappeared. There remains in Beirut one single institution of this type, the American College,169 which by lack of professors and students has lost much importance. The Jews have to be divided into three groups: the masses, the Orthodox emigrants from Galicia, from Rumania and Bessarabia,170 very poor, poorly educated and very devout, entirely indifferent in political matters. They are not coming into Palestine just to die on holy ground. One small minority of the intelligentsia, which doesn’t exceed a dozen persons in this country, are coming almost entirely from Germany, and which has its center in the Aid Society for German Jews171 in Berlin, pursuing purely humanitarian goals among the indigent class of the first category. In its political opinions, this little group is German nationalist.172 The third and most important party is that of the Zionists. It would take too long to discuss the history of this movement, whose nebulous dreams and quixotic aspirations are not even wellexpressed in its own literature. It suffices to say that official Zionism pretends to want to try to establish in Palestine a center of Jewish civilization and language all completely dissociated from politics, that is to say, remaining loyal to the Ottoman government. Even if we admit that the Zionists are sincere in what concerns the primary theme of their program – although up to now, there exists no purely Jewish civilization, and the artificial rebirth of Hebrew is still in its early infancy – they certainly are not concerning their alleged Ottomanism.173 If we could have suspected it before, the war has furnished the proof of it. I quote a few facts that prove as evidence the dual face of this international movement. During the attack on the Dardanelles, in the army of the Anglo– French, one special Zionist troop was fighting under the name of “the Zion Mule Corps”,174 which was even mentioned in a report by Sir Ian Hamilton.175 Furthermore, in a debate in the Duma, the Israelite deputy Friedmann, to prove the loyalty of the Jews towards the Entente, mentioned the same fact.176 In several articles of the Ententist press, some Zionists are debating the future of Palestine in the event of a conquest of this country, advocating for Jewish autonomy. There is no doubt, then, that this autonomy is the final purpose hidden deep in every Zionist heart. It is to be added that most of

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the Zionist emigrees from Russia, although clearly opposed to the government of the tsar, nevertheless have great sympathy for the Russian people and even more for France and England, regarded by those coming from Polish ghettoes who are eager for liberty and education as the protectors of civilization and of liberal thought. In view of this premise, the Zionists must therefore fear the consolidation of Turkey that would forever deprive them of this hope of realizing their ultimate purpose, and hate the Germany that aids its allies in fighting destructive forces. As for the danger that may arise from this situation, it is in my opinion minimal. In concentrated masses, the Zionists are to be found in Jerusalem, in Jaffa and in several colonies in Palestine and in the vilayet of Beirut. In the city of Haifa and even less in Beirut, they constitute small circles of no importance. Being cowardly by nature and without initiative, the Jews would never dare indulge in any subversive activities unless an armed enemy force found itself again in the country.177 Among the Arab Muslim population, the anti-Turkish movement, calling itself reformist and tending toward Arab autonomy, seems, thanks to just and severe measures of the government, to be significantly weakened. Mainly in the classes of small farmers, merchants and craftsmen, which constitute the mass of the people, the government and its cause seems to be quite popular. Also, in the middle classes, reformism hardly has any supporters. The brilliant success of the army, fighting against four great powers at once, and the government’s energetic administration has fortified the confidence of the people in the future of the Empire. Nonetheless, there are still some of these sad characters whose state of mind makes them fear the moment of an attack on the coast, leading to an attempted betrayal of their homeland. In the interior of the country, particularly in Damascus, their efforts would remain in all probability fruitless, since the support that they would find in the population would never suffice in engendering the courage to try to turn the authority of the government upside down. On the coast, however, where we have to expect a landing of enemy forces, it could well be that these individuals would seize the occasion of general disorder to induce the inhabitants to make common cause with the invading army, which would not fail to have an adverse influence on the population in the interior. As a consequence, I have the honor to propose to Your Excellency to kindly order the persons whose names and places of residence are annexed here to be sent administratively to a place in the

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interior, until the moment when a landing seems certain. It would be further feared that these men might place their expertise, standing and fortune at the disposal of the enemy. If in this manner the old reform party and the other groups hostile to Ottomanism were deprived of their leaders, there would be little danger that the masses would themselves be induced by the enemy to lend him support. Regarding possibilities of espionage in favor of the enemy, they seem to me at present practically eliminated unless a clandestine wireless telegraphy station finds itself in the country. Reporting to the enemy by heliography or by fire signals requires too much time to have not already been discovered by the authorities. Since the small boat traffic which previously skirted the coastline has been banned, this means of espionage has also disappeared.178 There remains, however, the possibility that fishermen may throw written intelligence in some place agreed to in the sea, destined for the enemy and contained in bottles anchored to the bottom, which then would be fished out by warships. It is therefore recommended that orders be given that before their departure, fishermen and their boats be submitted to an inspection. Informing of the enemy by members of the crew of American cruisers will also be inevitable for a long time because these ships visit our ports. In conclusion, having examined the situation on the spot, I don’t believe that the actual state of things would justify the creation of a special surveillance service. It would suffice, in my humble opinion, if I could observe the development of political ideas remaining by frequent travels that would put me in constant contact with the population. Eventually, I presume, I will submit to Your Excellency a blueprint for the creation of an intelligence service that would be put into execution in the event that the cities of the coast would be occupied by the enemy. In this case, it would be of great importance to be continually informed about the invasion force. To reach this goal, I would suggest choosing for now a score of persons, preferably young soldiers, some foreign students from the preparatory schools, who can incessantly go in disguise as traveling merchants, dervishes, beggars or others in the cities under threat, two individuals in each city. These men, independently of each other, will scout about to obtain news of the landed forces, their intentions, supplies, morale, etc. For the sending of news, they will use boys whom they will pick from among the small beggars, boyacıs,179 etc., giving them a reward and promising them another larger one after

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carrying out their task. These child news-bearers will try to dodge the vigilance of sentinels, either by slipping through their line at night, or obtaining their permission to cross through it by awakening their pity. The news will be written on scraps of thin and supple paper anywhere from ten to 12 centimeters square, which will be crumpled in a ball and, rendered waterproof by a bath of molten wax, may be hidden under the tongue or somewhere else in the body. Apart from that, the envoys may be provided with a simple radiotelegraph apparatus consisting of a long tube of black cardboard, at the bottom of which is a small lantern provided with a construction permitting its fast shutting and concealment. Having learned the Morse alphabet and aiming the tube from the top of a roof to a high place prearranged in advance outside enemy lines where a receiver would be posted, the telegraphist could give some news without its light source being seen from below. I would recommend trying to obtain some neutral persons, women and others in the cities situated on the coast, by impelling them to give us information in the event of an enemy occupation by all possible means whose application may not be judged in view of the circumstances. Signed, Pru¨fer Names of individuals whose removal to the interior would be recommended in the event of an enemy landing:180 Beirut Albert Cachou Jean Boustres The Sursuq family The Trad and Pharaon181 families Nessim Sabra Shibli al Malat Tawfiq Yaziji Yusuf al Hani Selim and Michel al Malki Elias as-Sioufi Elias as-Sabagh

lawyer detective at the municipality

owner of a printing house Lebanese resident in Beirut Lebanese resident in Beirut member of the municipality merchants merchant superintendent of the water company

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Shakir, Jamil and Kamil Beidoun Georges Rizkalla Shaykh ‘Ahmad Tabara Kamil and Nouri ‘Abbas Hassan al Kadi ‘Arif Dabab ‘Ahmad Moukhtar Bayhum183 Muhammad al Fakhouri Hassan and Tawfiq an-Nazuz Najib and Saadallah al Fiani ‘Abd al Bassit Fathallah ‘Arif an-Nazu ‘Anis Soraya

Merchants landlord managing editors of the newspaper Haqiiqa182 member of the municipality member of the municipality merchant merchant merchant employees of the house Bayhum secretary of the municipality secretary of the municipality secretary of the municipality

Haifa ‘Abd ‘Allah Moukhlis Shukri Kardahi Victor Germain Catoni Roland Selim Mansour Bishara and Constantin Modauar Meny Kerkabi Jidda ‘Abiad

commissioner lawyer merchant merchant alcohol manufacturer former French dragoman merchants cashier of the Ottoman Bank landlord secretary of the municipality former Italian and Belgian dragoman unknown professor (his wife is English) pharmacist

Theophil Boutagy Khader Nassar ‘Abd ‘Allah Madi The Arab Carmelite Fathers and all the Greek Catholic clergy

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Jaffa Emile Baldensperger merchant (French) Alfred Roque merchant Dimitri Petridis merchant ‘Ayub ‘Ayub director of the Public Debt All the leaders of the Zionist party, especially Hoofien184 and Dizengoff.185 In all coastal cities, the professors of some of the schools of the Israelite Alliance.186 The indigenous Catholic clergy.

7 December 1915187 To His Excellency the Imperial Ambassador Earl Wolff-Metternich, Constantinople. Some days ago, the merchant from Afghanistan who is living in Mecca, Muhammad ‘Amin Bey ibn Hassan Khan, a relative of the Emir of Afghanistan, arrived here in Constantinople while traveling through. Amin Bey, who was expelled from the Hijaz at the instigation of the sharif, wants to present a bill of indictment to the government, in which he is not only accusing the sharif of murdering his father Hassan Khan for political reasons, but also of numerous instances of high treason and other political crimes. I had opportunity, through mediation of a third party, to gain knowledge of the contents of the bill of indictment. The allegations against the sharif are so serious and were put forward with such certainty in all details and such an array of important witnesses that I consider it my duty, Your Excellency, to bring it to your attention. According to ‘Amin Bey’s statement, the current Hijaz policy followed by the government, which takes away all power from the vali relative to the sharif, has really done mischief by making a dangerous enemy out of the ambitious and money-grubbing but hitherto powerless intriguer and plotter, as he calls the sharif. He claims he has proof that, on the one hand, the sharif has most recently had relations with Ibn Sa’ud, Ibn Sabah and Shaykh Khaz’al188 as well as with the government of Sudan, and that, on the other hand, he aspires to undermine Ibn Rashid, who remains loyal. He cites as proof, among other things, that a constant communication is taking place between Jidda and Suwakin189 on behalf of the sharif. This communication seemingly has as its object

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the country’s cereal supply, but in truth it serves the English espionage effort and other traitorous purposes. Muhammad ‘Amin Bey further accuses the sharif of authorship, or at least approval of, the assault on the crew of the Emden,190 even as he rewarded the tribe from Jidda191 who carried out the attack on the Germans with gifts and guarantees of trade advantages, while threatening and harming the Thaaliba tribe whose members guided the Emden people. Furthermore, the sharif, too far away to provide for a conveyance of war news into Mohammedan foreign countries, hindered the dissemination of Ottoman and German war tidings in the Hijaz, while he threatened and even jailed people who passed on the victory reports. In addition, he has pronounced the holy war as not rightly explained and has advised holy warriors reporting to him against involvement in the war, as he has hinted that he, their religious head, and his family cannot take part in it. He has not shown up to the celebratory bestowal of the fatwa about the jihad in the great mosque in Mecca, and has demonstrated opposition to the holy war by this. This fact is known to Vehib Pasha and all the other government representatives. The sharif has occasionally goaded the bedouins to attacking the troops on their march from Medina to Mecca. For a month now, since the assault was betrayed, they have known and spoken of the proposed situation in both cities. The sharif is unlawfully recruiting soldiers, which he is signing on with unusually high pay in his name. The sharif is hindering the implementation of every forward step in the Hijaz, for instance, the building of the railway from Medina to Mecca, not because the cultural and religious constitution of the country dweller doesn’t allow progress, but because he would be deprived of his revenues obtained through exorbitant and extortionate taxes. Through treachery of the sharif, the plans for the Frobenius expedition has become known to the English. After Emir Sa’id separated himself from the expedition in Qunfudha, he came to Mecca, where he was splendidly received by the sharif and besieged with hospitality gifts. After the sharif was informed about Frobenius’ intentions, he made a report about it to Suwakin. As witnesses for his assertions, ‘Amin Bey named besides the previous vali and current army commander Vehib Pasha, the sharifs Wahza,

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Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al Hamid and Sharraf Pasha. Additionally, there are Wahya Ghalib Bey’s interpreter, Mekubdi Ghalib Bey, the qadi192 Fakhri Effendi, and the lieutenant major Khurshid Effendi, as well as the shaykh of the Great Mosque, ‘Ahmad Effendi, and a great number of clergy and businesspeople in Mecca. This is as far as Muhammad Amin’s charges go. He further alleges that in the holy cities, the sharif, apart from some few who have become rich through him, has no following whatsoever, since he ruthlessly preys upon the population and the pilgrims through unjust arbitrary duties and sums. In addition, there are in the Hijaz not even moderately informed people to whom the treachery of the sharif against the government is unknown. He is similarly unpopular among the majority of the tribes. Even with the bedouins devoted to him, particularly, in part, the ‘Ateiba, he would at most be able to put 3,000 men in the field. So, right now, it would be an easy thing for the government, which is popular in the Hijaz today, to liberate the country from its parasites once and for all through simultaneous, surprise arrests of the sharifian family and their small following, and at the same time to remove the danger of a plotting by this treacherous clan with external enemies. I am giving back without any comment these confidential communications made to me, since I do not dare to make a judgment without knowledge of the Hijaz and its far-from-simple circumstances. I don’t want to let it go unmentioned, however, that I have almost never heard anything favorable about the sharif from the numerous persons with whom I have recently had the opportunity to speak about the situation in the Hijaz, and who were justified in making judgements about it in their own opinion. Pru¨fer193

19 December 1915 General Staff, Berlin. Political Section. Dr Pru¨fer considers the 20,000-mark costs of the Neufeld194 operation not overestimated. He doesn’t believe, though, that the possibility for activity will be good for Neufeld in Arabia, because he had been recalled from there some months ago by Turkish officials. In case he

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wanted to proceed directly to the Sudan, passage through Arabia will perhaps be permitted to him. All the same, Pru¨fer considers the success of the operation to be at risk because Neufeld is known in the Hijaz as a German and may be betrayed by English spies there. According to the view from this side, it would be recommended that Neufeld seeks out the travelling permission by himself. He will, though, be supported in this from here, if necessary. Lossow195

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CHAPTER 3 1916

5 May 1916 I have been transferred to Flight Detachment 300,1 and am being trained as an observer. Around 8:00 am, I make my first ascent with pilot Sergeant Hayne. I have – contrary to my own expectation – no feelings of emotional discomfort or feelings of anxiety. We stay 12 minutes in the air over the place. Landing not very brilliant, almost into a wall. Afternoon visit at headquarters with Brasch. Evening in the messhall. Fanny’s picture arrives, to my tremendous joy.

6 May 19162 Ascent at 7:00 for a long-distance flight with Hayne. Landing after ten minutes there as a result of many clouds – no visibility. Landing in the midst of a battle with crosswinds. Pilot Kahut and Doctor Wandhoff,3 who ascended with us, crash on landing. Afternoon in messhall. Instruction with von Ha¨sler4 in motor construction and the sighting telescope. In the evenings, Hohenlohe5 is with us as guest. Lots of the sweet wine.

7 May 1916 Distance flight over Ghaza to Jaffa and back. Landing very bad. We lose some ten meters of altitude over the ground. Noon in the messhall. In the afternoon at headquarters. In the evening, in the messhall.

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8 May 1916 Flight: Bu¨low6 – Ha¨sler, Dittmar-Schaumburg,7 Schaumburg.8 Hayne– Aude9 to Port Sa’id, which is engaged with nine bombs. Hayne crashes on the return trip in ‘Arish10 in a forced landing. Noon with Brasch at headquarters. In the afternoon, training with Ha¨sler. In the evening, Latscher,11 Arnim, Hohenlohe, Brasch with us at table.

9 May 1916 Hayne returns from ‘Arish. The night officer 1st Lieutenant von Heimburg,12 Dr Fleischmann13 show up. In the afternoon, tea in the soldier’s club. Hohenlohe gets two months of leave, I get the Ottoman IVth.14 In the messhall at eveningtime.15

10 May 1916 At 5:00 in the morning, departure in the truck to Jerusalem with Fast and Kutter.16 Arrival at 11:00 in the Hotel Fast, which is jammed with Austrians. At noon with Bro¨de,17 Ziemke and Bro¨de’s wife and son. In the afternoon, a visit with Heemskerk18 on the Mount of Olives. In the evening, Hohenlohe and Tiller arrive. Jolly evening business.

11 May 1916 In the morning, shopping in the city, and visit at noon at Ballobar’s19 place accompanied by Hohenlohe. Afternoon: shopping with Heemskerk. Meal with Fast and visit of an Austrian to Ephraim Cohn. After that, lighthearted get-together with Fast.

12 May 1916 In the morning, visit to Dycks. There past noon. In the afternoon, Hohenlohe turns up. Then everyone goes into the city garden to the Austrian concert. Dinner with Fast. Later, theater performance in the rear area garden. After that until late in the night with Fast, where Hohenlohe and I dance.

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13 May 1916 In the morning, Hohenlohe departs to Germany. Visit and shopping. Quarrel with Bashir, who claims that he is owed ten lira by me. Departure at 1:00 to Beersheba by auto. Very hot. Arrival 9:30 in our Sager. There, Kaschel, Arnim, Mu¨hlmann20 as guests. I am unwell.

14 May 1916 Morning. Scirocco,21 monotony, heat, dust. Afternoon, ditto.

15 May 1916 Scirocco. Around eveningtime, Heemskerk and Salter22 turn up.

16 May 1916 Scirocco. In the evening, I am with Brasch at headquarters. Night flight by two airplanes.

17 May 1916 Scirocco. Evenings in the messhall. Night flight by Euringer.23 Gramophone until 1:00 in the morning. Brasch travels to ‘Arish.

18 May 1916 Alarm report out of ‘Arish. Eight vessels bombard the city. I am supposed to take off with Klein24 and Buber –Herler. Because of violent scirocco, the flight is given up. My pilot Hayne has to leave for Jerusalem because of sickness. In the evening, visit of the sisters Veronika and Brigitte25 (the princesses Reuss). Very fun. I appeared with Ha¨sler as the young maid of honor. Heavy rain.

19 May 1916 I choose Aude as pilot. Afternoon, machine gun shooting. At eveningtime, in the messhall.

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20 May 1916 Morning, am having a try at the engine. Afternoon, 5:30– 5:45, test flight in hazy weather up above. After dinner, procession with music to the train station for the farewell of the sisters Veronika and Brigitte. Kress and Hegler26 there also. Around midnight,27 take-off by Henkel28 – Salter, Dittmar– Schaumburg and Bu¨low– Ha¨sler for Port Sa’id.29 Around 2:00, Bu¨low comes back. After repeated attempt to land over my tent, he crashes into the tents of the weather station. Kizefeld von Kraft30 is seriously injured in the head and the thigh.

21 May 1916 At 5:00 in the morning: Dittmar and Henkel come back almost at the same time, after they have dropped their bombs on Port Sa’id. They have only been lightly raked with fire. At 5:15 in the afternoon, flight for the welcoming of the arriving Djemal Pasha31 over the parade ground in very gusty weather. Because I have diarrhea, I have to go down after 15 minutes. Aude ascends alone one more time. Klein –Heimburg are likewise in the air. The pasha arrives around 6:00. In the evening, in the messhall. For me, it’s going really badly.

22 May 1916 Morning spent in tent. Diarrhea persists. In the afternoon, Djemal Pasha shows up with Kress and the staff for a tour of our camp. Fly-bys done by Henkel, Euringer and Bu¨low. Djemal speaks to me in a friendly manner. In the evening, as usual in the messhall.

23 May 1916 7:30 am. Flight to Ghaza in strong west wind, up to 2,600 meters in altitude. Taking photographs was successful. Return at 8:45. Bu¨low, Ha¨sler and Schaumburg drive to Jerusalem on leave. Afternoon, excursion to Beersheba at the hotel and in the headquarters. In the evening, 1st Lieutenant Kettenbeil32 arrived from Jerusalem. Djemal Pasha is in the desert with Kress and the staff. Eshel Abraham said to me that Behc et Bey33 is taking baksheesh.34 He knew of two cases in which he was able to have 25 and 50 lira respectively given to him.

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24 May 1916 Heemskerk drives in auto with Euringer to Bir Hassana for recconnaissance for an airfield. He returns in the evening.

25 May 1916 Proceeding without incident. Witzleben35 arrives and visits me.

26 May 1916 Flight in the direction of ‘Arish from 6:00 am to 7:00 am broken off because of poor visibility. At midday (around 3:30 pm!) Djemal, Kress, Behc et and staffs. They stay until 7:00 in the evening.36

27 May 1916 We are dismantling our engines for usual modifications. Euringer – Berthold37 fly to ‘Arish to pelt a depot ship38 – without success. I buy a horse, Englishman, for five lira (!) from the Qatiya booty.39

28 May 1916 At dinner, Kress, Mu¨hlmann and Witzleben. In the afternoon, I visit Langenn in his new house. I am condemned to death by the British.

29 May 1916 An airplane – Klein–Heimburg – announces my arrival in Jerusalem for the evening through dropping a message. At 2:00 in the afternoon, Georgu¨,40 Wandhoff and I with ten men depart in the truck. In Jerusalem, splendid reception from Bro¨de, Ballobar, Marquet41 and Kraus.42 Jolly evening at Hotel Fast. Also there, the unfriendly 1st Lieutenant von Luck.

30 May 1916 Shopping in Bukhara Quarter.43 Noon with Ballo, then excursion to the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane.44 Evening celebration at Fast’s to honor the officers of the 2nd Royal and Imperial Mountain Howitzer Battery.

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31 May 1916 In morning, shopping with Frau Bro¨de. In evening, Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Talitha Kumi.45 Villa Meshuggah. Evening at the colony with Dycks.

1 June 1916 In morning, visit with Kraus and shopping, then church (Ascension).46 Afternoon, vehicle buying. In the evening, happy and sad at the hotel. Around 12:00 at night, our auto returned from Sarona.

2 June 1916 Departure at 9:00 in the morning. To me, the separation has never been so tough. Wondering if I will really ever see Jerusalem again and the things that are happening for me there. In some few days, the journey against the enemy goes forward. Arrival in Beersheba in heavy dustbearing wind around 1:00 pm. Lieutenant Georgu¨’s welcome is not exactly warm, owing to the fact that the furlough was exceeded. In the evening, the majority of the men in headquarters. In the messhall, Bu¨low is celebrating his Iron Crescent,47 which he has received for his flight to Romani48 yesterday. I am dead tired and melancholy.

3 June 1916 In morning, Colonel von Kress visits us. I am supposed to become a war volunteer. Dust-bearing wind again.

4 June 1916 Scirocco. Heat, dust, vexed mood. Heimburg sets out with the first column and 150 camels in the afternoon towards ‘Arish. In the evening, we are all invited to headquarters. Monotony and slop for food.

5 June 191649 Aude goes on leave, as a result of which, nothing to do. Henkel has a sprained foot.

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6 June 1916 Founding of the Rakı50 Club. Kettenbeil, Dr Fleischmann, Ha¨sler and I, Bose honorary member.

7 June 1916 Aude comes back. Henkel has to go into the hospital in Jerusalem. News about the death of Lord Kitchener arrives.51 Van retaken.52

8 June 1916 Kettenbeil– Morzik53 fly to Bir el ‘Abd.54 In the evening, two machine gun officers as guests. The cholera is in Abu el Enien. We now have in the Pasha formations in Beersheba: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)

eight companies of machine guns (50 guns); nine antiballoon guns; one battery of 10-cm cannons; flight Detachment 300; two Royal and Imperial mountain howitzer batteries, 10.5-cm; one field hospital; one motorist column, 35 autos.

9 June 1916 Flight to ‘Arish and back, 5:45–7:30, in good weather. On the way there, ripped the muffler to shreds. At headquarters with Arnim. The revolt in the Hijaz is intensifying.55 I rightly warned them about the shaykh.

10 June 1916 Preparations for receiving Bro¨de, Kraus, Marquet and Ballobar. In the evening with us: Kress, Arnim, Fischer, Bro¨de and Ballobar, who arrived late. They are staying in our camp. Kress says that Lo¨ytved communicated that the Arab press is featuring peace articles. This came about with Djemal’s approval. Bu¨low– Ha¨sler are flying to ‘Arish. Klein makes a forced landing. Aude has to remain in ‘Arish as a result of this.

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11 June 1916 Pentecost morning, in camp with Ballo. Noon at headquarters. Afternoon excursion by auto to ‘Asluj. Evening with the Royal and Imperial howitzers. Hegler is there. Frau H.56 is flirting with Kr. The acquiescence is overt. Bu¨low–Ha¨sler have pelted and strafed Romani–Qantara.

12 June 1916 The consuls are departing, to my great regret. Kahut and Morzik are flying to ‘Arish, the former with my airplane.

13 June 1916 Telegram that Bu¨low has been wounded in the shoulder in the air battle over ‘Arish, and the contraption lightly damaged. Ten bombs on the airfield at ‘Arish. Great commotion among us. In the afternoon, Klein arrives with Bu¨low. The wound is slight. I am with Kress in headquarters for tea. Medina57 is said to be in Turkish hands again. I strongly doubt it.

14 June 1916 Bu¨low is admitted to the hospital in Jerusalem.58 Aude is flying to ‘Arish for Ha¨sler as temporary substitute pilot. In the afternoon, Kress visits Captain von Heemskerk, who explains the attack plan in the evening. On 15 July, the operations in coordination with an offensive in Galicia and in the Caucasus begin. In the meantime, the Austrians at Czernowitz have vigorously retreated. The prospects are bad. Also, the Italian offensive of the Austrians has come to a standstill.59

15 June 1916 Morning visit to Langenn with Dr Fleischmann. Colonel von Kress is flying with Euringer to ‘Arish. He returns around evening time. In the evening, Hegler with us. Much sweet wine and cheerfulness.

16–20 June 1916 All airplane crews are flying to ‘Arish.60 Only Heemskerk, Salter, Fleischmann and I remain here. Morning at headquarters and to the rear

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echelon with Fischer. I receive two hecins. At noon, with Heemskerk in the house (he will drive to Jerusalem tomorrow with Salter). I am supposed to ride in the evening with Fleischmann and the last column to ‘Arish. Homesickness. Afternoon, seven hours after endless embarkation in a horrible dust storm, departure of 47 men and 280 camels. The people are in part mounted on pack camels. We marched through Beersheba amidst singing. Gradually, the people grew more still. All hours are now turning into quarter hours. In spite of this, all are still hanging on to the animals for tiredness, as we – inn shaa’ ‘Allah – arrive at 4:30 in the morning of Saturday, the 17th of June. I sleep through the morning until 12:00 with Fleischmann. He is very hot. We break camp at 5:00. The order of march is bad, the column tattered and endless. To top that off, we lose our bearings around 7:00 when it gets dark, and lose half an hour before we get on the way again. Around 1:00 in the morning, we finally arrived in Khan Yunis, a picturesque place between gardens61 with a shot-riddled, castellated building62 in the middle of it. The camel-mounted soldiers do not arrive until an hour later. Shortly beforehand, a panic breaks out among the camels. They run with wild excitement among the piled baggage and cause some damage. Dr Fleischmann is swearing at the column commander, a Turkish captain. Until 4:00 in the morning, Sunday, the 18th of June, the foreman Schneider, the paymaster Trit and I eat and drink. Then finally, we go for some rest under a nice mulberry tree in the garden for dinner. The day is spent quietly. At 7:00 in the evening, departure and on Monday, the 19th of June, 3:00 in the morning arrival in Shaykh Zowead.63 Here, we hear through the column leader out of ‘Arish that in an English bombing attack by nine aircraft, three are shot down. At 5:00 in the afternoon, departure. Arrival Tuesday, the 20th of June in ‘Arish aviator camp at 3:30 in the morning. We discover that in the English attack, Bu¨low and Dittmar’s machines were destroyed. Five men, Aude and Kahut among them, are wounded. The mood is depressed. Around 6:00, alarm. The sound of motors from the direction of Bardawil. Nothing follows, though. At noon, Heemskerk with Dittmar arrives in an airplane from Beersheba. The balloon defense cannon unit is in position.

21 June 1916 At 5:00 in the morning, alarm. Mother ship and two torpedo boats from the direction of Ghaza. Nothing happened. I am riding by hecin with

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Georgu¨ to ‘Arish. We visit the wounded. Dr Lu¨bke,64 Major Mayr65 and Grobba66 will eat with the officers of the Royal and Imperial mountain howitzer battery67 at Mayr’s place on Wednesday. Czernowitz68 is again in Russian hands, and as Pop Tipton69 the captured English aviator explained, the Russians have gained 30,000 prisoners. Peace vanishes further into the distance. Evening in the mess hall. Dr Fleischmann, Kettenbeil and I move in together in a tent.

22 June 1916 At 5:00 in the morning, alarm. Enemy aviator. The aviator appears over the dunes in the west, tosses away two bombs on an unknown target and disappears. Afternoon in camp. Rakı Club. Monotony. Grobba visits us. I am appointed captain of clerks with aviation officer insignia.

23 June 1916 Quiet for once. The English have definitely lost three airplanes. Frank found remains of a machine at Bardawil. Afternoon ride with Ha¨sler to the sea. Visit with Aude and Sister Paula.70

24 June 1916 Ha¨sler flies with Hayne to Beersheba. This lucky one has leave to Jerusalem until the return of Bu¨low. In the afternoon, Salter returns with Hayne. The Russian offensive has, it seems, come to a standstill. The Arab revolt is said to be ended.

25 June 1916 Foggy morning. Quiet. Berthold Fast and pilot Wagner arrive from Beersheba by camel. Afternoon ride with Kettenbeil to ‘Arish. Visit to hospital. With Mayr and Grobba. Frank has arrived from Bardawil. I am supposed to divide up responsibility as flight leader with Georgu¨ and Kahut. Banquet in celebration of my nomination.

26 June 1916 Fog again, so no one can take off. In the afternoon, Summ shows up with both autos from Beersheba.

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28 June 1916 Euringer– Berthold have an air battle with a very fast English airplane over Bir Mezar.71 The machine receives 75 shots. In the evening, Mayr, Grobba and Lu¨bke with us at table. Kahut has been operated on.

29 June 1916 News that Dittmar has inadvertently killed a Turkish soldier while shooting a machine gun from the air. In the evening, punch for celebration of the Iron Crescent being awarded to Heimburg.

30 June 1916 In morning, ride with ‘Abid towards Bir Hefen.72 I come back with a bad headache and weakness of heart. At 5:00 pm, enemy aviator from the mother ship appears over the dunes to the east, is driven away by balloon defense cannon fire. Two bombs on the palm forest in front of ‘Arish. In the evening with Brasch in ‘Arish, who picks me up. Again, weakness of heart and bad night. Ha¨sler, Bu¨low and Henkel have come.

1 July 1916 Morning, weakness of heart. Checkup by Dr Fleischmann. Obeyed by taking egg whites. In the evening, non-commissioned officer banquet in the messhall with performances.

2 July 1916 Monotony and malaise.

3 July 1916 Ride to ‘Arish around noon with Brasch to see Dr Lu¨bke. Further urine sample negative. In the evening, machine gun shooting and champagne in the messhall.

4 July 1916 Machine gun and target shooting. In the evening, balloon defense cannon officers on visit.

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5 July 1916 Afternoon ride to ‘Arish to see Mayr and Sister Paula.

6 July 1916 Afternoon at 5:00, enemy hydroplane throws two bombs on ‘Arish. Our balloon defense cannons drive it off. In the evening, Brasch comes. He is welcomed lukewarmly.

7 July 1916 Cholera outbreak. Card 20 to parents. Card to Fanny. Building of the Desert Nightclub. At noon, Captain Range.73

8 July 1916 At 9:00 in the morning, Colonel von Kress arrives in an airplane with Klein. After snack and conversation with Heemskerk, he drives to ‘Arish with Brasch. At 4:00 in the afternoon, he shows up at tea. The Arab revolt is going very badly for the Turks. The emir of Mecca has declared his independence. His son Faysal has defected as well. Poor Oppenheim! O. has departed from Cospoli. Around 5:00 Kress flies back to Beersheba with Morzik.

9 July 1916 Preparations for the bar. In the evening, brilliant inauguration. I as barman, Kettenbeil as waiter. Great operation and overall joviality.

10 July 1916 For the first time, duty officer. Evening in the bar.

11 July 1916 Evening at table with Bu¨low in Arish with Mayr (Brasch, Lu¨bke, von Ku¨hlewein, Mors, Colonel Ibrahim,74 Range).

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12 July 1916 In the evening, sportfest in the presence of Colonel von Kress, who arrives with Dittmar in an airplane. Many guests and bustle in bar and messhall. Kahut has a nervous breakdown. In the Hijaz, it is awful.75 The colonel is suffering from provisioning difficulties and has put the cabinet question to Djemal.

13 July 1916 Dr Fleischmann gives up the management of the bar. Rischer is considered: unknown. Brasch is with us at table from then on. In the evening, trophy cup for celebrating the awarding of the Liyakat76 to Captain von Heemskerk.

15 July 1916 Letter from the parents. In the afternoon, the vanguard77 moves out. In the evening, Brasch and Fischer in the bar. Captain Djemil, who is supposed to be going to Arabia as the leader of a Turkish flight detachment. Although trained in Schleissheim, the half-deaf man does not make an impression of being very well “trained”. Hayne flies him to and from Beersheba.

16 July 1916 Morning conversation of the officers with Captain von Heemskerk about the mission of the detachment. Nothing new.

17 July 1916 Heimburg’s flight to Romani– Muhammadiyyeh.78 Around evening, Witzleben arrives from Hafir. He spends the night with us, and is transferred to Kress.

18 July 1916 Morning, 11:00, two enemy aviators show up. One bomb 200 meters in front of our tent. Afternoon in Arish. Heemskerk is recalled. Henkel–

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Salter have an air battle with an English airplane, one of the two that visited us between Mezar and Romani. The English are fleeing. Towards evening with Mayr on his terrace. There, Kress with staff, Witzleben, Brasch, the sisters. Return by camel with Kettenbeil.

19 July 191679 In camp. In the evening, Arnim and Hegler with us. With the Austrian gipsy band, running the bar.

20 July 1916 March-off of the main body80 with the headquarters around 3:00. At noon, with Mayr, then with the sisters.

21 July 1916 At 4:00 in the afternoon, flight with Hayne and accompanied by Morzik. Kettenbeil to Muhammadiyyeh– Romani. We are shot at by artillery. Oghratina taken by the vanguard. Return at 10:00.

22 July 1916 Hohenlohe in ‘Arish. Kettenbeil, Heimburg and I with him and Brasch at Mayr’s in the afternoon and the evening. No talk of peace. Hohenlohe rides in the evening still further to Bir el ‘Abd. Around 9:00, Heibei also appears. Toujours le meme.81 Much stuff, but little content.

23 July 1916 Hohenlohe rides off early today around 3:00 with Heibei. Henkel– Salter have an inconclusive air battle over Romani. In the evening, punch in the messhall to celebrate the birth of Heemskerk’s daughter.

24 July 1916 At 6:00, enemy aviator throws two bombs on Shaykh Zowead. Machine gun fire. Bu¨low flies his Pfalz to Bir el ‘Abd. Has air battle without

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result with “Vickers” with two machine guns. At 11:00, enemy seaplane over ‘Arish. The 10.5- and 15-cm artillery has remained stuck in the sand in front of Bardawil! I have diarrhea, and am therefore going immediately to eat in bed. First Lieutenant Ko¨nig with two noncommissioned officers. Aviators arrive.

25 July 1916 I am pretty unwell. Henkel– Salter and Dittmar– Schaumburg are taking off with Bu¨low at Bir al ‘Abd at 6:30 in order to ambush the English. Afternoon, from the direction of Ghaza, the thunder of cannons. In the evening, Henkel comes back without success. Dittmar has had to land at Bardawil. Bon is dying.

26 July 1916 My birthday! In the evening, Brasch is with us. He also stays over night. A rather melancholy party.

27 July 1916 Afternoon with Brasch and Leyser to ‘Arish. To Brasch’s towards evening with Euringer and Dr von Ku¨hlewein. On the front, ten cases of cholera. The colonel wants to attack first on 5 August. I fear that the favorable moment is past.

28 July 1916 In the afternoon, Leyser with us up until tea. In the evening, tremendous bustle at the bar.

29 July 1916 Afternoon, all in ‘Arish for swimming. We eat at the beach with Brasch. Merry celebration with Rinem. Snapshots.

30 July 1916 Bombs on Romani.

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31 July 1916 Morning, sausage breakfast with the antiballoon gun unit. Bu¨low – Ha¨sler return. In the afternoon, news arrives that on the sea during the night, an explosion has been heard. They’re thinking that it’s a torpedoing on the part of our submarines. In the evening, punch.

1 August 1916 Henkel– Salter move towards Bir al ‘Abd. The attack is supposed to take place on the 4th. In the morning at dawn, all airplanes will attack Romani–Muhammadiyyeh in three squadrons. I am attached to Squadron 3 going to Etmaler.82 The enemy bombards Oghratina with monitors. I ask for a furlough.

2 August 1916 Georgu¨’s first flight to the front with Hayne. At 10:00, heavy explosions from the west. In the afternoon, in ‘Arish at Brasch’s with Kettenbeil. The first prisoner, a New Zealander, arrives. Letter 23.

3 August 1916 Preparations for squadron flight.83

4 August 1916 At 4:25 am with Hayne, flight84 towards Etmaler. We drop 71 bombs. All airplanes unscathed. In the afternoon a report comes that the assault has miscarried. The Turks stand around the enemy positions. Heavy fire from the sea. Bu¨low forces a Bristol to land over Romani. A second Bristol has to land at Bir al ‘Abd. The aviators escape. In the evening, 1st Lieutenant Zo¨llen arrives with a wireless telegraphy station.

5 August 1916 Probing fire of the 21-cm Mo¨rser. During the entire night, heavy artillery fire from the west. Bu¨low – Schaumburg return. Colonel von

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K.’s attack is cut off. The troops will withdraw towards Qatiya. Henkel has shot down a Bristol. Casualties on our side unknown. In the Hauran, the Druze are said to be rebellious.85 I am seeing the black side if the 1st Expeditionary Corps does not immediately go back to Hafir–Beersheba–‘Arish, as an English attack by sea is still easily possible here. I have seriously bloody diarrhea and vomiting. In the afternoon, there arrived a dispatch from Major Mu¨hlmann, which called for lively flight activities and bombing flights to Port Sa’id and ‘Isma’iliyeh. In the current situation, with the strength of forces available, an almost downright inconceivable suggestion. I received the Iron Crescent. Furlough approved, subject to Liman’s consent. At the front, rearguard action in Qatiya. Brasch in the evening at table. Conversation with the Imperial and Royals about report to Djemal.86

6 August 1916 The colonel goes further back in the Mazeba– Masia87 – Hudin–Naza line close to ‘Arish. The English drop greeting on their opponent.

7 August 1916 Bombs from each of two airplanes on Suez and Port Sa’id. Salter telephones from Bir al ‘Abd: airfield threatened. Shortly thereafter: colonel awaits attack with encirclement west of ‘Abd on Masia column, Bischoff88 leads towards Bayud.89 In the evening in ‘Arish with Brasch. There at 10:00, a telephone message arrives from the colonel: 1). the 1st Expeditionary Corps has broken off its mission; 2). the 1st Expeditionary Corps is going back to ‘Arish. Brasch is riding with me to the airfield and is spending the night. Henkel– Salter and Heimburg are arriving.

8 August 1916 Cruiser in front of ‘Arish. I am very unwell. The colonel reports that he is not going back, but rather will attack again in two days because the English had received very heavy casualties. He is waiting in Bir Salmana90 for the resupply of ammunition. Heemskerk, Henkel and I will leave tomorrow evening. The colonel reports that he wants to be picked up by airplane early tomorrow. In the evening, farewell celebration. Punch.

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9 August 1916 Bu¨low comes back from Bir al ‘Abd without the colonel. The English attack ferociously, are already firing over the airfield. The colonel has utterly misunderstood the situation. In the evening, around 5:00, Kress reports: enemy thrown back. Heemskerk, Henkel and I, as well as five other men, travel in the evening by horse, camel and auto to ‘Abu ‘Aqila.91 Arrival, 6:30 in the morning.

10 August 1916 Quick snack with Sergeant Bayer. Traveled further at 9:00 by mule to Hafir. Arrival there 3:00 in the afternoon. Eating with Leyser in the van at 7:00, further to Beersheba. Arrival 10:30 at the old airfield. Further until 12:00 midnight.

11 August 1916 Arrival in Jerusalem at 5:30 with Fast. Morning, visit with Bro¨des, Kraus, Ballobar. Afternoon with Heemskerk to the Wailing Wall.92 In the evening with the Bro¨des. There, Austrian sisters and consuls.

12 August 1916 Colonel goes back to ‘Arish. K. in need of a decoration. Afternoon, bazaar. Visit of ‘Arif and the consul in the hotel. In the evening, alone with Heemskerk.

13 August 1916 Morning with Heemskerk and Henkel in the Bukhara Quarter. At table with Sven Hedin.93 Imperial German Embassy.94 Pera, 12 September 1916. The dragoman who has been sent to Jerusalem and assigned to the 4th Army High Command for special missions, Dr Pru¨fer, has become sick after two years of hard activity there and in the desert, and he urgently

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needs the rest. Consul Bro¨de wired from Jerusalem on the 9th of the month: “Pru¨fer is on leave for health reasons, request permission for leave to Constantinople. Wire response to consulate Aleppo requested”. With the stipulation of approval, Your Excellency, I have authorized Dr Pru¨fer to travel to Constantinople, and I may keep in reserve a further request for leave until after his local arrival. P. Metternich.

13 September 1916 Departure with Brasch and Dr Ku¨hlewein. On the train, Countess Witzleben and actress Sophie Wachner.

14 September 1916 Arrival in the evening in Damascus. I drive further in the night to the hotel: Damascus Palace.

15–16 September 1916 In the morning, I wake up still with sore throat. Am traveling very uncomfortably in the cot as far as Riyaq.95 Then to Aleppo, where we arrive at 5:00 early on 9/16 at the Hotel Baron. Rest of the day in bed.

17 September 1916 Still sick. Traveling further (noon) as far as Islahiya. Ro¨ssler on the train. Went further to Mamure96 in personal car over the very steep Amanus. Arrival around evening. There, saw head doctor. Accommodation in so-called officers’ quarters, or unfurnished wooden stall full of mice. Supper in the soldier’s club with Pastor Zils. Fever epidemic.

18 September 1916 Traveled further by train to Gu¨lek, then at 6:00 pm in the car to Tarsus. Hotel Continental, very primitive.

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19 September 1916 Back to Gu¨lek, then to the post office. With me, Turks over the Taurus without luggage to Pozantı. Here, loutish German rear echelon Major Schro¨der, Captain Ewers. Accommodation during bout of dysentery: wretched. Food is perishing in stupid messhall. Only soldier’s club in sight.

20 September 1916 Luggage and orderlies arrive. At 8:00 in the evening, departure in second class. Very bad night and three Turks in the compartment.

21 September 1916 Afternoon in Konya (dervishes).97

22 September 1916 Eskis¸ehir. Soldier’s club towards noon.

23 September 1916 Arrival, 2:00 pm Haydar Pasha98 in the rain. Brasch drives to the General, Ku¨hlewein and I try the Corcovado,99 which is occupied. We move to the Hotel Tokatlian.

24 September 1916 In the evening, Brasch with me in the hotel.

25 September 1916 Visit to the embassy in Pera with Radowitz,100 Weber, Lossow. Towards noon with Weber in the club, then visit along with Weber to ‘Ali Pasha, the chief of the intelligence service. Visit with Fabricius. In the evening, with Ku¨hlewein in the hotel.

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26 September 1916 Morning with Ku¨hlewein in Stambul. Noon with Fabricius in club. Met Jungels. Kickton.101 Afternoon to Therapia. With ambassador102 to lunch. There, Pannwitz,103 Trauttmansdorff.104 Then with Pannwitz towards midnight with Mu¨ller. In the Hotel Imperial overnight. Project for Switzerland.

27 September 1916 With Metternich, Pannwitz, Radowitz, Frau Mu¨ller and Consul Mordtmann105 in the mosque by Pera. Towards noon, with Pannwitz in club. Afternoon at Ministry of War with Captain Weyer106 to the I.d. Flieg.,107 and with Major Lorenz. Unsuccessful. In the evening with Jungels. There, Consul Schmidt, Zanzibar and “Dolly” Jungels. Lady friend. Constantinople, 27 September 1916.108 To the AA. Since the month of November 1914, the agent Bashir al Bana, who was recommended to our service through the Ottoman Ministry of War, has been in position in Beirut. Bashir has been in Egypt twice and has always proven himself trustworthy both in these affairs as well as later in the observation of operations in Syria and Palestine, particularly in the monitoring of suspicious persons. Bashir has at his disposal an unusual knowledge of individuals in the entire country. He is a member of the “Unity and Progress” club in Beirut and has a good reputation in government offices throughout Syria and Palestine. I would consider Bashir’s dismissal as inadvisable, and instead recommend his further employment, perhaps at the disposal of the Damascus consulate. He speaks Turkish and Arabic. He has up to now received a monthly salary of ten lira. Pru¨fer

28 September 1916 Morning at the military mission. Unsuccessful. I have to pay for my travel. Towards noon with Brasch at General. Afternoon in the consulate. In the evening, Dr Koch and Schwindt with me.

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29 September 1916 Morning in the embassy. Noon with Brasch and with him to the train station. Afternoon, Kettenbeil arrives from ‘Arish. Towards evening in the club. Then with Kettenbeil, Petit Champs. There, Czekowitz with “Rosa” and “Mirabeau”. Later, Hotel Moderne, “Mize”. Jolly evening.

30 September 1916 At the embassy. Noon, Kettenbeil learned of the death of his father. Afternoon, Taxim Garden. In the evening with Kettenbeil, Serno109 and Weyer in the hotel. Towards noon, with Scharfenberg, ambassador, Go¨ppert.110

1 October 1916 Morning with Kettenbeil at the inspection of the aviation troops. I am receiving no free trip. Berlin, 27 October 1916.111 To the embassy, Constantinople. Please arrange with the 4th Turkish Army Dr Pru¨fer’s leave of absence112 for further two months. Advise military authorities. Wire report. Under State Secretary. To the AA. During my stay in the 4th Ottoman Army zone, the only propaganda material from the News Bureau for the Orient I found in military offices in Syria and Palestine was the brochure “Lest We Forget”, aside from the pamphlets produced there and reprinted here. Whether other works were distributed among the civilian population by the news rooms or the consulate, I cannot say. This propaganda cannot have been overly intensive, however, because I in my capacity as intelligence officer never saw a leaflet like it. I would consider it very desirable if just the military side would care for the distribution of our news and propaganda material, all the more since the Arab troops could really use a boosting of their enthusiasm for the war and of their feeling for their fatherland. Towards this goal, I would recommend that the local news office work

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collaboratively either through the imperial embassy in Constantinople (or rather the consulates) or directly with Djemal Pasha, the commanding officer of the 4th Army, and would entreat him to distribute to the units subordinate to him the propaganda material sent to him in the future. It may in any case be advisable to deal with Djemal Pasha personally, because a rational distribution of the means of propaganda will only be ensured if he himself becomes interested in the cause. Pru¨fer113

4 December 1916.114 To the AA. In the Muqattam of 16 October, the editor of the newspaper Mursad (Cairo), ‘Ali Lutfi, published a report about an audience which the faithless Sharif of Mecca granted to him.115 Asked by ‘Ali Lutfi to comment about the reasons for his defection from Turkey, the sharif tried to portray the past history of the revolt as if he, attacked by the Turks, had merely acted in self-defense. It has always been the objective of Young Turk policy to incite individual rulers on the Arabian peninsula against each other in order to be able to exploit them in a more unhindered manner. “When the unionists saw their hope of sowing discord between me, the Imam Yahya and the Sayyid al ‘Idrisi116 founder,” ‘Ali Lutfi quoted Sharif Husayn as declaring, “The intriguers switched to a different tactic. They sent agents to Jidda and Yanbu to the chief of the Bani Harb117 tribe and asked him in the name of religion to rise up against me”. The sharif argues further that on the basis of this Turkish machination, the Bani Harb blocked off the connection between Mecca and Jidda and the caravan route to Medina, bringing into question the feasibility of the pilgrimage. When friendly interviews with the leader of the Bani Harb failed, hostilities broke out. Only now did he, the sharif, send his son Faysal against the attackers into the field. Defeated in a bloody encounter, the Bani Harb were convinced by their error to turn themselves around and unite with the sharif’s warriors against the enemies of the faith, the Turks. How thoroughly fabricated this description is shows most clearly in that right before the outbreak of the revolt, Sharif Husayn had just promised to have his son Faysal take part in an operation on the Sinai

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Peninsula with a volunteer force. Instead, he made use of the means placed at his disposal for this purpose for an attack on the Bani Harb who were at that time loyal to the Porte. Pru¨fer News Bureau for the Orient, Berlin.118

12 December 1916 Greatly honored Herr von Wesendonck.119 As I have confidentially discovered, an approximately 23-year-old woman who calls herself Baroness von Delica and claims to be the daughter of a major, was trying to persuade the owner of a local cigar business, a Frau Spilmann, to get herself recruited for the “secret service”. The so-called Delica told Spillmann that as an agent of the German government, she would receive a monthly income of 400 marks. For these earnings, she would have to furnish no other benefits other than to be “open eyes and ears”. From time to time, she would travel to Holland. She made Spillmann the offer to get her into a similar position and even to bring her to Constantinople. She would furthermore introduce her into circles in which officers run, in which she would have to do nothing other than pay attention to what she heard. Delica, if that’s her real name, allegedly traveled to Holland the day before yesterday and lives here in the Kalckreuthstrasse 17 in the Speyer boardinghouse. As I am bringing the above to your attention, I am with the most obligatory greetings, Your most devoted Pru¨fer

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3 January 19171 To the AA. It is correct, as a matter of fact, that there can be no talk at all of a distribution of the publications of the News Bureau in Syria and Palestine. You probably encounter the brochures of the NfO occasionally in the consulates and newsrooms. Outside of these institutions, however, I have only very seldom encountered even one of our propaganda magazines. I already pointed out earlier that I would consider it advisable if the military authorities would take an interest in the distribution of our materials. In addition, the news room leaders would have to be made aware that the material transferred to them is not there to gradually become obsolete as waste paper, but that it should be sent to interested schools, clubs, hotels, cafes, newspapers, officials and influential people of all sorts. I would like to mention in connection to this that I have found in the leadership of one of our largest rooms the peculiar ambition to monopolize for the sake of the newsroom’s venue the provisioning of news to the city where this room finds itself. The official dispatches which the news room received, then, were distributed not in the city or in the hotels, so all the more were the people, as the leader himself confessed, compelled to visit the rooms. It is quite clear that such policy aimed at a superficial increase of frequency may not correspond with the intentions of the founders. Pru¨fer.

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Pera, 12 April 1917.2 To the AA. On the part of the News Bureau, the production of printed documents for propaganda purposes had to be given up completely, because there are not sufficient means at our disposal for this goal. As far as pamphlets procured by the New Bureau for the Orient and other offices up to now are concerned, I am of the view that the majority of them were hardly suitable for Turkey. For the time being, actual Turkish propaganda material written in Turkish exclusively for Turkey is almost completely lacking. Instead, we have a large amount of periodicals in all possible exotic languages about events in the homelands of these languages, even though there is neither the interest for it here nor the possibility of having these periodicals sent from here out to their destinations: India, Persia, the Caucasus, Egypt, Morocco and so forth. Besides that, I have the impression that Turkish officials do not seem to much like that we are concerning ourselves too much with areas Turkey considers as a Mohammedan domain, and above all, as its sphere. To cite another example, I would not like to fail to point out on this occasion that the Persian newspaper Kaveh3 is constantly encountering difficulties with the censor,4 and that only now did a complaint of Fuad Bey’s show itself because of an unauthorized distribution. I put forth for consideration, then, whether the very paltry benefit that arises from the pursuit of such pan-Islamic chimeras among the few supporters here is not being more than cancelled out on the other side by the threat of official anger. Regarding the contents of our printed material, I would like to recommend, as already implied, more engagement with Turkish circumstances and greater tact in self-praise. The books will have greater effect if they appear as Turkish publications by Turkish authors, and if they don’t too blatantly extol all things German. Such themes that touch upon all areas of the social, scientific and economic life in all areas seem especially recommendable to me. To write a lot about the war, of its genesis, enemy atrocities and the like seems to me love’s labors lost. We will not change the general opinion of the war-weary and rather pessimistic population through ever and again protesting our innocence in the war and describing the executions of Mohammedans in India and Egypt. The people see too much of it in their own countries to be

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properly outraged about what is going on elsewhere along these lines. The facts of the war, which are already broadly disseminated now, utterly suffice, in my opinion to avoid interest dying off. In any case, we ourselves will not become more popular with the people by always commending ourselves only as war heroes. Our peaceful activity, I believe, is far and away more agreeable to them than our martial activity.5 For an excellent propaganda on behalf of our concerns, I would consider it appropriate if beside the pamphlet activity, we would translate as many good German books, novels, novellas, theater pieces and books for the youth as possible and bring them to market here. Things to avoid in this would be everything doctrinal, educational or laudatory. We would have to make ourselves likeable to the Turks like the French did before the war, to awaken love and appreciation for our character in them. As soon as it is noticed that they are to be “educated”, they will turn away from us. If we have won the affection of the population, they will believe our reports for themselves, which today, unfortunately, is not always the case, in spite of all our loud propaganda. Perhaps the German – Turkish Association,6 which, as I hear, has taken on such translations, could be influenced in this direction. Pru¨fer7 Pera, 20 April 1917.8 News Bureau of the Imperial German Embassy, Constantinople. To the News Bureau for the Orient, Berlin. As a constant collaborator of the Tanin9 and a sociological author with a good reputation, the previous Ottoman legation secretary in Sofia and current inspector of the education ministry, Mehmet Ali Bey, has suggested the publication by him of a book, Germany, in Turkish with German resources. Unfortunately, no means are at the disposal of the News Bureau of the Imperial Embassy for such goals, so I am honored to recommend to the News Bureau for the Orient this work of Mehmet Ali Bey on the warmest terms. In this book, it seems to me that a work of an oriental author truly deserving of our support finally exists. Mehmet Ali Bey suggests that his comprehensive, approximately 400-octavo-page work be published as 25 individual brochures, which would appear in Constantinople in regular succession. He promises greater interest for this form of publication among his readers probably

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with justification, as if he were bringing the work to market as a single volume. According to his calculation, which by the way corresponds with the usual prices here, the costs for the single brochures of 26 pages each in an edition of 5,000 copies amount to 750 piasters for printing, setting and folding minus the delivery of paper. With it would come a royalty of 250 piasters per brochure to the author and paper delivery, which can’t be had here, or can only be had for very high prices (250 piasters for 1,000 sheets). The total costs of the 25 brochures would then amount to 250 lira without the paper delivery. The copyright for this would transfer to the News Bureau for the Orient. Mehmet Ali Bey believes that at a price of 25 para for the single brochure, he could easily find a bookseller who would take over the distribution so that a good part of the costs could be offset then. The paper delivery could be managed by installments through the military police. A content overview of the work is enclosed. I would like to point out one more time that I would specially recommend the printing of this work, because a propaganda tract from the pen of a truly respected, modern-educated and politically influential Turk – Mehmet Ali Bey, a graduate of the Sorbonne – is utterly lacking. Pru¨fer News Bureau of the Imperial German Embassy, Constantinople.10 Pera, 18 May 1917. To his high-wellborn Herr Legation Secretary von Wesendonck. Greatly honored Herr von Wesendonck! In accordance with your wish, I am permitting a number of Turkish and Arabic pamphlets on the enclosed List A to be sent, which, during the war, have appeared in Turkey, and which I have acquired for the Foreign Office here. The price of the volumes – which according to the list reportedly includes expenses of 103314 piasters – I am requesting to have added by the legation cashier’s office to the propaganda funds of the News Bureau in mark currency earmarked for the News Bureau. I would be very thankful if you would tell me if the purchase of more books is desired, and which of the periodical magazines itemized in List B should be collected here for the Foreign Office.

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With most obligatory greetings, Your very devoted Pru¨fer

21 May 1917 Departure from Cospoli,11 11:10 am. At the train station in Haydar Pasha, Lentur and Keller. Train quite full. Riding in baggage car with drunk Imperial and Royal soldier Stasny, who is bringing petroleum shipment to Pozantı. Disgusting odor.

22 May 1917 The night was cold. I am quite stiff and hungry, because the box of provisions in the baggage car has gone empty through oversight. Still, there aren’t any insects. At all stations, there is an endless wait. At 9 am, we are still not in Eskis¸ehır. I think back to Rumeli Hisarı12 with fondness. Afternoon in Eskis¸ehır. Visit to Do¨ring at the news bureau in the school. Departure, 1:40 pm. Arrival 9 pm in Afyon Karahissar.13 In the night, the transport routes are suspended, and we remain standing in place. How long, nobody knows.

23 May 1917 It’s raining in sheets. In the city, which lies about one kilometer from the train station, it is impossible to leave. There are no autos. A very noteworthy city, hunkered down, brown, under thick rain clouds, towered over by a few minarets. Midway out from the center of the city, a jagged rock14 rises like a bad dream. Behind it, a wall of mountains. At 7 am, a military train arrives. We board, and will depart at 9 am. At 1:00, we are in Aks¸ehir.15 It is still raining, and it’s very cold. In Kadınhanı, it snows. Our food is quite poor. Hard-sought beer and black bread that tastes like sand. We lose half an hour after developing engine trouble behind the train station. It rains ceaselessly, water mixed with snow. If only I were back again in Cospoli in the peaceful house on the Bosporus. Sitting between my petrol barrels, I am tired and painfully sick inside. The Austrian has gotten around in a shower stall on a tank wagon. With me is Yassin. At least one familiar face! The landscape becomes ever more barren and inhospitable. Bleak, undulating steppe

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country. In the distance, cursed mountains covered in haze from the rain.16 Overall, one sees storks and magpies, otherwise few living creatures. In Konya, 9 pm. Hotel overcrowded. Cheerless supper in bare smoke-filled inn parlor. Yassin stays in train. I have painful longing for R. Hissar. Am spending the night in the hotel, because the train is heading on at 10 am at the earliest.

24 May 1917 At 6:00 in the morning, still ever more gloomy weather and hideous cold. I am going at 8:00 in the morning into the city to see Seeger.17 Visit to the news office where Seeger is, back to the train station. Train leaves only at 2:45 pm. Noon in the hotel. There, Rabinowitsch and family, who are exiled. Weather clears up. Train oil extremely unpleasant. A certain station company first lieutenant from Konya. Journey runs smoothly until the incident caused by the petrol barrel which begins to leak. As a result of this, we can’t smoke. Arrival at Pozantı, 6:30 am.

25 May 1917 Passport control pleasant. Visit with 1st Lieutenant Buchar (Captain Ewer’s executive officer), Imperial and Royal rear echelon officer. Breakfast in the messhall. No train to Karapınar18 in the late morning, perhaps no more at all today. It’s pouring. Afternoon departure to Karapınar. Overnight in Belemedik with railway engineer Leutenegger (Lieutenant Tru¨mpel, liaison officer).

26 May 1917 To Karapınar, 5:00 in the morning. There with German transport (Private Mu¨nch) on narrow-gauge railway via Belemedik to Gelebek in the pouring rain through the Taurus Tunnel. Arrival, 2:30 pm. Visit with Lieutenant Bischoff. Traveled further in unspeakably dirty first-class railway compartment. At 5:30 pm, to Adana. Arrival with big delay at 11 pm in overly tired condition. We are driving towards two-kilometer-distant city in a cart around midnight. The so-called hotels are all full, or so grubby that it seems impossible to overnight there. We eventually land in a wretched dive of the foulest sort at around 1:00, where we cooked a

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hurried meal. I spend the night sitting at a table thickly covered with insects. It swarms with bugs, fleas and the like. Dreadful night.

27 May 1917 Pentecost. 6:00 am. After three hours sleep, I awake shivering with aching back. Yassin is sitting in a corner, an old sack pulled over his head. Only now do you see the dirt of the locals in their utter loathsomeness. I’m not staying a single night longer in this room. A fine Pentecost morning! My entire body quivers. First visit at 8 am with Bu¨ge to no avail. Still sleeping. Meanwhile, the sky clouds up again, and around 9:00, while I am sitting in the malodorous hotel room and moping, it begins to rain hard again. A wonderful trip. Second visit around 12:00 to Bu¨ge again unsuccessful. Back to the bug fortress. Around 1:00, a furious cloud burst with hail and thunderstorm comes down. Flooding in the streets. At 4:00, I finally meet Bu¨ge. Departure, 7:30 pm to Mamure.19 Alone in passably decent rail car. Unfortunately, though, many fleas. Arrival 4:00 am. Mamure.

28 May 1917 9:15 am. Departure by auto towards Islahiya. Private Mu¨nch and company are riding with me again. Nice weather finally. Arrival in Islahiya, 4:30 pm. No train to Aleppo. I find accommodation in an officer’s tent, liaison officer Lieutenant Bernhard. Saxon and Germanspeaking, still at present a Royal and Imperial lieutenant. To supper, we three in the messhall. Around 9:00, sleep. In the night, General Von Falkenhayn20 passes on the way to Cospoli.

29 May 1917 7:00 am. Excursion with Royal and Imperial Lieutenant Kesselring to the ruins of an ancient Greek city site21 with citadel on the crest of a hill one kilometer west of Islahiya. Two beautiful floor mosaics. Yassin has his boot stolen. Departure, 1:20. In compartment, mutessarif of ‘Akka and Turkish 1st lieutenant. Arrival Aleppo, 7:00 pm. Hotel Hagenlocher. Gu¨ttschwager there. Afterwards, supper in concert garden. Big German table there: Major Grafenstein,22 1st Lieutenant

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Brinkmann, consular secretary Egger with wife, Dr Klages,23 two Miss Halls and so on. Awful women’s orchestra. Arnim is traveling to the Western Front. Langenn likewise.

30 May 1917 Late morning visit with Major Grafenstein, St Bing, and to the consulate. Then, with Flechsig24 to the dispatch room. At table with Gu¨ttschwager. Afternoon tea with Ro¨ssler. Then with R., auto excursion. Ate in hotel with Gu¨ttschwager and Finkelstein. Around 8:00, lecture by St Bing in the soldier’s club. There also Ro¨ssler and soldier Landenberger.

31 May 1917 Late morning, still in hotel with headache. Afternoon with Gu¨ttschwager. Departure, 4:30 pm.

1 June 1917 In train alone. 5:00 am. Homs. Afternoon in the train, division commander Sadi Bey, track commissioner ‘Abd ‘Allah Bey. Arrival in Damascus. 7:50 pm. Hotel Victoria. Presently, engineer Frank.

2 June 1917 Late morning visit in dispatch room with Consul Hoffman and at midday with Hahn. Afternoon to Dr Schlagintwait25 for cholera vaccination, then rear area Lieutenant Colonel Mack and club (Lieutenant Colonel Brandt). Supper with Hahn at Hofmann’s. Nice wife. In the hotel, four officers under Brandt’s command. Total booze-up.

3 June 1917 Bad headache. Visit from Bashir. Afternoon in the club with Brandt, Hahn, Muschli, Frank, Emmelius. Evening in officer’s club (Bathman, Bachmann, Schiefer, Mack, Schlagintwait).

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4 June 1917 7:00 am. Departure for Beirut. In Riyaq, Osman Fuad.26 Arrival in Beirut, 8:00 pm. Hotel Sassman. There, general senior doctor Professor His,27 Lieutenant Auade and naval Lieutenant Boehme, French fishing trawler.

5 June 1917 Late morning visit with Mutius, and in dispatch room with Heinze. Noon in hotel. Afternoon, shopping. Evening with Mutius. Then in hotel with Captain Werner, Zelle, Boehme, Bocklers, Dr Ko¨nig and wife, Bing.

6 June 1917 Late morning shopping with Werner. Noon with Gravenstein, His, just like yesterday evening. Afternoon walk to the museum. Evening in the hotel.

7 June 1917 At 7:00 am, departure with His, Werner. From ‘Aleyh,28 Rosenthal, His and Werner continue from Riyaq on to Aleppo. Arrival in Damascus, 8:15 pm, Hotel Victoria. Grafenstein, Bing, Zelle arrive in auto. In the hotel, Royal and Imperial 1st Lieutenant Comalka.

8 June 1917 Late morning visit to the news bureau, bank, consulate (Secretary Kapp). Afternoon, Hahn with me in the hotel. Shopping. Jardin Public. Evening, tutti quanti in the Austrian touring company theater.

9 June 1917 Departure 12:45 from Kadem.29 In the train, Catholic sister Ambrosia and Mr and Mrs von den Mu¨hlen from Haifa, who, like all Palestine Germans, are demanding and stingy. Mussner in Dera’a.

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10 June 1917 5:00 in the morning arrival, Afuleh. No train to Haifa. I send a telegram to Haifa for an auto. The entirety of the late morning in a hospital tent. Noon there. At 4:00 pm, auto shows up with Kamas and news bureau director. I nevertheless ride by train, which departs almost simultaneously. Arrival Haifa, 7:00 pm. Hotel Kraft. Only two persons there.

11 June 1917 Late morning visit in the news room and at the consulate with Stu¨tz, Secretary Frank and Frau Lo¨ytved. In the hotel, Albach and Emilius. Afternoon excursion with Elias Zakker to ‘Akka for an inspection of the news room in that place, which is operated by the ra’is baladiyyeh,30 Tawfiq Effendi. In the evening, at the regular table with Wagner. Among others there: Timotheus Lange,31 Pastor Moderow. Supper at the hotel, afterwards with Emilius, Albach and family. Theophil Frank with two bottles of bubbly. At 10:00 to bed.

12 June 1917 Departure by auto, 3:00 at night. Arrival after very dusty drive, 7:30 in Samarin.32 Hotel Graff. Yassin has remained in Haifa on leave with one security guard. Instead of him, the cavass Mikhail is accompanying me. Arrival in Wilhelma,33 6:00 pm. Accommodations with Schabinger34 in House of Heroes. At dinner with Schabinger and Baumert.

13 June 1917 Departure with the mayor’s auto. Schabinger and Baumert off to Jerusalem, 8:00 am. Noon in Ramla35 with Detachment 300. Felmy,36 Falke,37 Dittmar, Fleischmann, Kru¨ger.38 Bar operation in monastery. At 7:00 in the evening in Jerusalem with Fast. There, Ballo, Kress, Ku¨bler. Afterwards with Ziemke at Bro¨de’s and driver (Captain Axter). Bar operation.

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14 June 1917 Late morning in consulate. Noon at Fast’s with Ziemke and Mu¨hlmann. Afternoon with Axster, provost39 and Grobba. Then hotel. There Heibei, Cohn and Bindernagel. Went to eat with all the consuls at Bro¨de’s.

15 June 1917 Late morning with Ephraim Cohn and at the consulate. At noon with Schabinger and Ku¨bler at Ballo’s. In the afternoon with provost and Marcks. In the evening with Kraus.

16 June 1917 Late morning visit to news room and to the rear echelon. In the afternoon to Ku¨bler’s for tea. In the evening, dinner at my place in the hotel (Bro¨des, Damar, Marcks, Schabinger, Kraus, Bindernagel, Ziemke, Ku¨bler).

17 June 1917 Enver, Djemal and the headquarters go to Tell Sheria.40 Late morning, Shaykh Ibrahim ad-Danaf, a Sanussi envoy, and a Tripolitan secret policeman visit me. Noon at Bro¨de’s. In the evening with drivers, Major Heibei and Schru¨nkers with Marcks.

18 June 1917 I have severe chest pain, and am consulting Dr Grussendorf.41 He confirms unsoundness of the upper repiratory tract. Noon at the hotel. At 5:00 pm, accompanied by Bro¨de and Ziemke. Departure. In the evening after traveling with four persons – Jews and Muslims – in the heat and being afflicted by flies, around 8:00, arrival in Wadi Sarar.42 There we stay because Enver’s train is expected.

19 June 1917 In the morning at 9:00 the train in front with Enver’s automobiles shows up. Includes the flying car. Kettenbeil is in

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Cospoli. At 11:00, departure with Jewish woman and pretty daughter. First Lieutenant Hamun, and four children. In Ramla, we meet Djemal and Enver. At 8:30 in the evening, in Afuleh. There, Yassin and lots of luggage. A drunken first lieutenant replaces the major’s family. Lots of bugs.

20 June 1917 In Dera’a, 10:30 am. Departure at 12:00. Train rides very slowly. I am horribly tired and dirty. My cough has still not abated. On the other hand, the pains have become less. Arrival in Damascus– Kadem, 7:00 pm. By tram to the Hotel Victoria. Headquarters there. Supper alone in the room. Yassin finds a louse on my pillow. Nice prospect for typhus.

21 June 1917 Headquarters is traveling to Lebanon with Djemal Pasha. At noon with Hahn. Afternoon in the hotel. Visit by Sharif Bey and Spoer. In the evening with Hofmann. There, Meissner Pasha and Frau Lo¨ytved. After that, in the club with Brandt.

22 June 1917 At noon with Meissner Pasha. Afternoon after attempted departure in the O.H. Evening at my place, Lieutenant Schoeffer and Brandt and Schoemann. Schieffer is said to have been demoted due to monetary transactions.

23 June 1917 The entire day spent in the hotel. In the evening with Schoeffer, Pemlicevich family and Miss Stoll. More intense monotony. Sick mouth.

24 June 1917 Pain in mouth. Hahn visits. Afternoon. Visit in vilayet (‘Ahmad Bey). Vali is going away. Ra’is al baladiye, Djemal the Less43 and Sadalla Bey, the rear echelon inspector. To eat, Schoeffer at my place. Afterwards, Brandt, Bethmann, Villers, Schlagintwait. Brandt has a breakdown.

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25 June 1917 My mouth is getting worse. Ulceration on the upper, forward gums. Iodine brushing unsuccessful. Departure, 3:00 am. Yassin remains behind with baggage. Annoying behavior of the train station officials. In Riyaq, Cohn and hospital inspector Borke, with whom I’m traveling, together. Arrival in Aleppo.

26 June 1917 Early, 7:00. Headquarters is heading back to Cospoli. Djemal Pasha is still in Aleppo.44 Visit with the consul. There, telegram from Friedrich. At noon, in consulate. Present in addition to me: engineer Clo¨vekam. Afternoon visit with Dr Lo¨ytved. My mouth infection is harmless. Then with Gravenstein and Cohn at the Hotel Baron. There, I meet Captain Moro and hand over my map45 for Djemal Pasha. Later with Cohn, Finkelstein and Dr Schiff in a cafe´. In the evening, with Hagenlocher. Yassin still not shown up. I’m staying with Buchsler. There in the evening, soldier Luzter. Visibly drunk. My mouth is really hurting.

27 June 1917 Yassin is not there. I am going to the dentist Krebs in the rear echelon. At noon with Finkelstein in the mess hall. In the afternoon, Yassin finally comes. We pack. Evening in the mess hall. Afterwards in the concert garden. Dreadfully hot night, plagued by mosquitoes.

28 June 1917 Late morning at the dentist. Mouth is better. Noon in the mess hall. In the evening at home. I am spending the night.

29 June 1917 Departure, 8:20 am. Noon in Jerablus46 on the Euphrates. Around midnight in Ra’s al ‘Ain.47 Riding in baggage car with several soldiers, and as far as Tell al ‘Abiad48 with German first lieutenant from Urfa.49 Further travel at 2:00 at night.

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30 June 1917 A third-class compartment for three. A happy night in the company of the bugs. At daybreak, numberless flies, which stick like glue and show preference for the eyes. I steadfastly determine to go home, in order to drive away the frenzy and the tropical madness. On the left, a truncated chain of mountains, otherwise steppe country. Around 7:00 am, arrival in Darbassiyeh, which reminds me of Beersheba. In the train are two cases of cholera. Consequently, there is supposed to be a quarantine, from which Dr Malade releases me. On alighting, quarrel with Turkish avus c ¸50 who accuses Yassin of stealing his leggings and does not want to let me go. The station captain intervenes. Relations between Turks and Germans here also miserable. The rear echelon officer Lieutenant Lu¨cke, an archaeologist in civilian life, also confirms this to me. It is frightfully hot in my tent. Many prisoners. The Turks let the Russians go hungry; the British are treated well. The auto goes further in the early morning. At noon in the soldiers’ club with Dr Malade, Lieutenant Lu¨cke, Royal and Imperial sergeant and Catholic priest. Afternoon in the tent. In the evening in the mess hall with engineer Schmidt, Dr Malade, Lieutenant Lu¨cke, Lieutenant Fahig, staff doctor Flach, priest. I am to obtain a passenger auto. From whom?

1 July 1917 Departure 3:00 am for Mosul51 in passenger auto. At noon in Demir Kapu. Received in friendly fashion and entertained by Lieutenant Thorsen. After a one-hour rest, continued on with Bavarian railway engineer Rossmayr. Arrived very tired at 7:00 in Mosul. Reception at the consulate. There, legation secretary von Blu¨cher. In the night, I get a fever.

2 July 1917 High fever, in bed. Doctor Tholus uncertain. Very unwell.

3 July 1917 Doctor confirms pappataci.52 Fever still high. I’m very weak.

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4 July 1917 Fever has fallen sharply. Around evening, it goes in the completely opposite direction. On the other hand, mouth becoming extremely inflamed.

5 July 1917 Visit to rear echelon (Lieutenant Piper), truck driver column (Captain Pescharius) and to the dentist. Noon in consulate. In the evening, at the consulate.

6 July 1917 Fever again, with it violent mouth pains, which the dentist thinks is scurvy. I am very weary and have no appetite whatsoever.

7 July 1917 Fever and mouth pain. Tonight I will nevertheless try to depart. In the evening at table, Dr Schwarz53 and a head physician.

8 July 1917 At 3:00 am, personal auto departure with Captain Panhasins and Lieutenant von Kobald. Arrival 10:00 am in Demir Kapu. There, 1st Lieutenant Schadow, Lieutenant Thorssen and 1st Lieutenant Anton. Skat until noon. The Mosul men are driving back. In the evening, engineer Rabe and Dr Sanz show up.

9 July 1917 Departure with Schadow and Rabe in van. Horrible ride. Arrival 4:00 pm in Darbassiyeh. Cholera there. Bad night.

10 July 1917 Hot and nasty as always in this area. Day spent monotonously. Lu¨cke is complaining about the Catholic Peter Dangelmayer, the manager of the soldier’s club who is simultaneously working as chaplain for the prisoners.

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He accuses him of pro-Armenian propaganda. Armenians have been getting smuggled by an Armenian doctor in Darbassiyeh to Russia and America. Spying by English prisoners on the railroad track.54 Departure 8:00 pm with Schadow and two German soldiers in baggage car. Tolerable ride. On train, Turkish general. At midnight in Ra’s al ‘Ain.

11 July 1917 In Jerablus, 11:00 am. Pain in mouth. Arrival 7:00 pm in Aleppo. Accommodation with Hagenlocher in bathroom.

12 July 1917 Visit to the rear echelon, paramedical depot, soldier’s club, consulate. Shopping. Frau von Ku¨hlmann has died. At noon in the messhall. Afternoon in the consulate then with Secretary Eckert. In the evening in the messhall.

13 July 1917 Departure 6:00 am in baggage car with Schadow. Arrival Islahiya, 12:00. In van further towards Mamure, 12:30. Arrival, 4:45 pm. No connection. In the officers’ club, Sister Erika Wahnschaffe, Lieutenant Mu¨ller, Dr Penzoldt. Veterinary service major, Dr Jahn. I have severe head and mouth pain.

14 July 1917 Departure 8:00 am in baggage car. Kappuch and Trieber. At noon in Adana. With Schadow at Bu¨ge’s place. Further towards Gelebek, 2:30. Arrival, 5:00 pm. Accommodations in officer’s club. Lieutenant Bischof uncommonly churlish and unfriendly. Will not be forgotten by him. To dinner in the mess hall. Somewhat more civil tone on account of my good cigars.

15 July 1917 Departure 3:00 am with Kleinhohe. Arrival 2:45 pm. in Karapınar. Continued with Jahn, Schadow and Zahlm. Rosner in baggage car. Strong headache on the left-hand side.

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16 July 1917 In Konya, 10:00 am. At noon in the hotel. Headache still. Continued at 2:00 pm.

17 July 1917 In Eskis¸ehir, 1:45 pm. Ate at the soldiers’ club. Strong headache and mouth pain. Continued, 6:00 pm.

18 July 1917 In Izmit, 7:00 in the morning. Splendid ride on the gulf.55 Arrival at Haydar Pasha, 12:30 in the afternoon.56 News Bureau of the Imperial German Embassy, Constantinople.57 Pera, 11 December 1917. To the Imperial German Embassy, Pera. Today, Muhammad Sadiq Bey, who is known to me from Palestine, visited me. He came during the war as envoy of the shaykh of the Sanussi from Tripoli to Turkey and has stayed on here since then. The goal of his visit was to make me aware of the need for the German government to enter into direct relations without the mediation of Turkish officials. The conduct of Turkish officials and officers in Tripoli has allegedly been such that a placing of a German relief expedition under Turkish command would only succeed in compromising the reputation of Germany, all the more so as actual Turkish influence in Tripoli is said to be quite paltry. The Turkish mediation position is extremely questionable, though, especially because the native political police (Tes¸kilat Odası58) through whose hands everything passes, even the most secret things in Tripoli concerning agreements, was said to be led by a man who is suspected of, at the very least, Entente sympathies. ‘Ali Bash Hamba59 is a native Tunisian, married to an Italian whose brother lives in the house. His officials, particularly Dr ‘Ahmad Fuad, are of his persuasion, for the most part spies. He knows for sure that, for instance, the first lieutenant Muhammad Salim, who comes recommended by the Tes¸kilat and who serves on the staff of Djemal Pasha, and also the Egyptian ‘Ahmad Sa’id Effendi who was employed by the police in Jerusalem, were said to have

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been in Anglo–Egyptian service. The English and the Italians were informed about everything worth knowing about these people while they were on their way through Switzerland. Lastly, Sadiq Bey declared to me that he’s ready to return to Tripoli with a German liaision by submarine in order to convince Sayyid ‘Ahmad as-Sanussi, who has grown unreasonable as a result of Turkish intriguing against German support, that he would not be left in the lurch relative to the struggle against Italy and his desire for independence from Turkey. Above all, though, an influencing of his rebellious relative the Sayyid al ‘Idrisi in the Yemen and the sharif of Mecca can be expected from Sayyid ‘Ahmad, in the event that an unequivocal, German declaration is laid before them. As a precondition, he, Sadiq Bey, would have to stipulate only an extremely confidential treatment of the matter vis-a`-vis the Turkish government. Signed, Pru¨fer

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CHAPTER 5 1918

Constantinople, 13 April 1918.1 Zionist Central Office, Berlin. In my enclosed letter, I forgot to report to you an episode that does not lack for interest. I was standing some days ago together with the General Consul, Dr Bro¨de, and the leader of the German intelligence section, Dr Pru¨fer, in front of the entrance to the dining room at the Hotel Pera Palace when suddenly Djemal Pasha came through here. He remained standing, greeting everyone in front of us with a handshake and asked me: “Ah, you are again in Constantinople?” “Yes, Excellency, since three weeks ago”. “See now”, he turned to us three. “How right have I been in my perception of Zionism2 from the beginning?” And he began to talk about it, unconcerned that we were standing at an entrance where people were continually passing by, saying that he could now demonstrate that the Zionists were Ententist-minded.3 Dr Bro¨de4 interjected that it could merely be a matter of isolated tendencies. I added that there existed means to counter these tendencies, but that I could naturally not comment about it in detail in this place. This conversation seemed interesting to me, less because of content than because Djemal Pasha seized the opportunity in so inappropriate a place to belatedly justify his policy against the Zionists. Had the location been different, and had I taken the risk to bring his displeasure down upon myself afresh (which seemed to me not unwished-for,

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because he usually is able to seriously bully me), I would have said to him that the Ententist tendencies in Zionism are the consequence of his policy of persecution. Before his battle against all our institutions, and before the evacuation of Jaffa,5 there were as good as no Ententist tendencies. On the contrary, the Jews, and particularly the Americans, were very pro-Turkish until the wrong policy in Palestine had the effect of making the Jews in other countries believe that they had to view Turkey as an enemy in all Jewish Palestine endeavors. Djemal Pasha is confusing cause and effect here. I put Djemal Pasha’s attempt at justification in context because they are now making allegations against him because of his anti-Arab and anti-Zionist policy. More and more, there is emerging a sharper contrast between Talaat Pasha6 and Djemal Pasha in regards to the Jewish question. It is not impossible that Djemal Pasha will now try to play out the Zionist question through his secret struggle against Talaat. Your very devoted A. Ruppin. Berlin, 8 May 1918.7 The Southern German Monthly Magazine Press intends to publish in July of this year a special issue, The Orient.8 One short article about Egypt is by Dr Pru¨fer,9 leader of the News Bureau of the Imperial German Embassy in Constantinople, and an additional short article about Afghanistan by Legation Secretary von Hentig10 in Constantinople has been passed on. Because both gentlemen may take on producing the articles only with the approval of the Foreign Office, I have been commissioned to solicit this approval beforehand. The manuscript of the essays I will then most humbly submit for your most gracious examination as soon as it is undertaken here. Mittwoch11

20 June 1918 Letters from Kazerah out of Kerch.12 In the afternoon, Shakib ‘Arslan with me. Says in official circles, barely any illwill against us, but indeed against Bulgaria!13 Rumor about Djemal’s and Rahmi’s resignation, because Talaat’s antagonism can’t be gotten rid of. Enver at odds with OHL because of the Lossow case. ‘Ahmad Farid Bey14 has resigned,

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supposedly dissatisfied because the khedive attended the official luncheons of Nureddin,15 who is being denounced to me as an English spy and go-between by ‘Abd al Hamid Rifaat.16 His wife and sister-inlaw are said to be whores.

21 June 1918 Noon with Yeghen,17 who comments very bitterly about his position. Confirms ‘Abd al Hamid’s testimony about Nureddin. Afternoon, ‘Abd al Hamid visits me, still wants to visit Germany or Liman.

22 June 1918 At noon, again with Yeghen. There, Selim Bey, the husband of the princess Shevakiar. Imbecilic and arrogant. Izzet Pasha18 has held a dinner for Townshend.19 The Turkish – Bulgarian tension is more acute. There are open rumors about a special peace for Turkey.

23 June 1918 Late morning with the khedive in C¸ubuklu.20 Confidences about his three wives. He wants to take Lusange21 with him to Germany. The To¨ro¨k woman22 is blackmailing him from Vienna through General Kurs Hu¨ssni Bey. His son is putting restrictions on him because of the relationship with his mother. He wants to go to Berlin straightaway after Bairam. I am supposed to accompany him. Yeghen’s “tongue” he does not trust. Afternoon, tea with Mu¨ller.

24 June 1918 E. afternoon with me. In the evening, storm. Farid says to me that the khedive did not accept his resignation.

25 June 191823 Visit from Jungels. He’s reporting from Batum.24 Lossow personally treated badly by Halil as his attache´, not regarded as independent representative. Telegraph at his disposal for one hour daily. Turks had

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blown up Transcaucasus Federation by forward advance in concert with the Tatars.25 Special republics of Georgia and Armenia are said to be emerging in dependence on Germany. Lossow has finally departed with the delegates of these republics in order to personally make report to the kaiser. Regarding the case of Kress,26 situation has continued to get worse. Vehib Pasha has refused him a travel permit, whereupon he has gone to Tiflis.27 Telegram OHL to Seeckt.28 Ottoman Imperial Majesty to arrange satisfaction for Kress. Not successful. Vehib transferred to Persia. In Baku, English emissaries, as overall in Persia.29 The Turks have again organized large massacres among the Caucasus Armenians. Wertz saw some himself, drove five weeks through utterly devastated, deserted country. Yeghen is extremely angry with the khedive. He actually repudiated him when he was in jail for the khedive, and told his wife he was under arrest for the abduction of a minor. Yeghen has even had to pay for the khedive in Vienna. In return, the khedive shows him nothing but ingratitude. Only ‘Arif30 and Nureddin have been invited to the minister’s dinner on Sunday by Hofe. ‘Attabi31 appears. Yeghen says he goes often to the khedive. In the evening, heavy thunderstorm. Clears up later.

26 June 1918 Visit by 1st Lieutenant von Heimburg, who is returning to Germany. Situation in Palestine secured. Shakib ‘Arslan with me. He’s going again to Berlin.32 Rather enthusiastic for the Turkish claims in the Caucasus, protection of the Tatar Republic.33

27 June 1918 In the evening, Hentig in Hissar.

28 June 1918 Professor Reich with me. Very anti-Turkish. Liman has also spoken to him with this in mind. Afternoon in C¸ubuklu. Khedive tells me about establishing a German–Egyptian business in Berlin and Paris. Members: Prince Lo¨wenstein, Reventlow,34 Stresemann,35 Tirpitz,36 etc. Honorary president: khedive. Honorary members: Sa’id Halim, ‘Abbas Halim.37 Growing agitation against Germany, especially in the navy.

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29 June 1918 Toward noon with Hentig and 1st Lieutenant Khansin in club.

30 June 1918 Hentig says that Fuad Selim38 is reporting about English proposal out of Bern to Turkey. Syria, Arabia, Mesopotamia autonomous Turkish suzerain states. Sphere of influence in Armenia as well. Turks uninterested in Egypt and Persia. England takes over Turkish obligations during the war. Bernstorff39 considers matter as Turkish chantage.40 I believe the proposal is for real. We were supposed to make England a proposal on an equal basis. Partition of Turkey into two spheres, Arab for England, Turanic (North Persia, Turkestan) for Germany.41 ‘Arif Pasha with me, known to be francophile. Departure of the khedive probably 20 July.

1 July 1918 Afternoon with Hentig and Fiman at Consul Bracklo’s in Makriko¨y. There also, 1st Lieutenant Wagner. General pessimism regarding Turkey. Wagner says that Enver does not dare to act against war profiteers. A Russian dreadnought sunk itself, the other has come into Sevastopol with the destroyers. Ludendorff has expressed serious frustration about the defeat of the Austrian offensive42 in a memorandum to General Headquarters in Cospoli. With respect to Enver, has turned soft.

2 July 1918 Meeting Langenn. Hohenlohe is pretty sick at both ends in the hospital. Rumors about revolt in Syria. Farid’s resignation turns out to be an attempt at a higher salary and a vacation in Switzerland. Mosel is going back as the representative of a tobacco purchasing corporation. ‘Attabi says to me that ‘Ali Bash Hamba has a report of Pro¨bster’s43 about arms imports to Morocco via Tripoli (from where?) and has spoken his mind unfavorably about its feasibility. He’ll never undertake anything against France! In the evening, in Mirgu¨n.

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3 July 1918 In Mirgu¨n, hectic day. Went home in the evening to Hissar.

4 July 1918 I find out that the sultan has died44 the previous evening of diabetes. In the city, no commotion whatsoever. Dull passivity. The funeral around 11:00 in Eyu¨p.45 Hentig sick. Afternoon with the khedive. He’s traveling on the 20th. His Majesty speaks about English peace offer. Talaat calls the English good diplomats. Legation in Bern “quite British.”46 Khalil Bey, military attache´ married to sister of ‘Abd al Baki al ‘Omari, who is the intimate friend of Binns.47 Fakhr ad-Din Bey48 is going to the Ukraine, likewise English. In the evening, Lehmann49 with me.

5 July 1918 Rabe talks about wild rumors. Quarrel between Enver and Talaat, whom Enver has injured. ‘Abd al Hamid Rifaat reports the same thing. Enver is hated by the Germans, especially by the women.

6 July 1918 Received interesting report re: situation of Turkey from Jungels written to Hohenlohe. Bernstorff communicates request of the khedive.

7 July 1918 Jungels, Lehmann, Mainz and family of Jelal Bey with me. Constant thunderstorms. In the evening, ‘Arif Pasha shows up and communicates that the khedive is waiving the right to take Lusange.

8 July 1918 The ministry stays in the office. Kress sends a threatening dispatch from Tiflis. The khedive visits Bernstorff. Report about me to Berlin.

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9 July 1918 Towards noon with Yeghen. There, Rauf Bey,50 extremely unfriendly. Afternoon, Shakib ‘Arslan with me, is traveling soon to Berlin. In the evening, thunderstorm.

10 July 1918 I propose departure for khedive. The die is cast. I can’t any more. Visit with Frau Brasch in the hospital and Dr Ritter.51 In the evening, thunderstorm. Ku¨hlmann has stepped down. Hintze52 probable successor. As a result, Hentig intends to go to Germany on a longer furlough.

11 July 1918 The embassy chancellery refused to arrange a passport for me, “because I don’t belong to the embassy”. I am complaining to Scharfenberg with success. In the evening, Kloksin and Hentig.

12 July 1918 Still no answer from Berlin concerning my trip. Worryingly, the affair is coming back “Goeben” and “Kronstadt”.53 Braunstein with me.

13 July 1918 Renewed request on my own behalf to Berlin. From Kazerah, nothing comes with “Goeben”.

14 July 1918 In Prinkipo to see Boetzkes with Ritter and Bergstra¨sser,54 who, like all learned ones, are masters of their discipline and know how to speak about it. Trip passed over in silence.

15 July 1918 Bashir and ‘Abd ar-Rahman al Hindi arrive and hang on to me.

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16 July 1918 New ministers: Djambolet interior, Rahmi public works, Kamal rationing, Dr Nazim55 instruction. The sultan has still not confirmed the cabinet. Talaat without portfolio, thus weakened. Our paltry successes in the new western offensive are making poor impression. Le soir chez Rayna. Charmant.56 News Bureau of the Imperial Embassy, Constantinople.57 Pera, 16 July 1918. To the Imperial Germany Embassy in Pera. I consider the plan for bringing a wireless station to Ha’il without the knowledge and approval of the Turks58 to be quite unworkable. In particular, the head teacher Sprotte,59 whom I personally know quite well, does not seem very suitable to me for such an undertaking, which chiefly requires cold-bloodedness and sobriety of thought. Sprotte is a weak, effeminate-minded person, yet also one who exhibits quarrelsomeness and obstinacy. He may possess educational talents and have considerable expertise in oriental languages, but his ability to evaluate a political situation and report on it without love and hate may be quite limited, in my view. I would also consider it, therefore, doubtful whether a really clear picture of the conditions in Arabia could be gained from a possible reporting by Herr Sprotte from the Najd. Even assuming that he has knowledge of Arabic language and habits, as well as some circumspection and resolve, the possibility of reaching Ibn Rashid from Syria seems out of the question to me. Signed, Pru¨fer

17 July 1918 In the evening with Jungels. There, Mosel and 1st Lieutenant Dunst. Schwa¨tzer, M. speak much that would still be interesting, if it were always true.

18 July 1918 Friedrich is making a formal intercession for the passport. I can get on the way first thing next week. Towards noon, with Lehmann and Mainz.

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19 July 1918 At noon with Scharfenberg and khedive at Bernstorff’s in Therapia. Inquires about Fuad Selim, who is here. Has rejected ambassadorship of Persia. I am being asked to report60 by B. Rumor that mock resolution decided on. In the evening with Hentig and Friedrich at La Milles. Later still with Yeghen.

20 July 1918 Departure in the evening with the khedive. At the train station, Talaat, Rauf, Scharfenberg. Great farewell. Khedive tells me that Rauf –Talaat made a scene in his presence. It is time to “speak openly” with the Germans. Shekir Nisnet is accompanying the khedive as far as San Stefano.61 Although an Arab, very anti-German. Is being summoned by the Central Committee to take over the food organization, is telling me he is ready to hinder the food supply to Turkey, if carte blanche62 given for the removal of the Germans on the Orient Railway. Toys have come in from Germany by the truckload, foodstuffs which are already bought, and not war materiel. The embassy and the military advisor are assuming responsibility for the shipment. Sayalan.63

21 July 1918 The sickness is becoming clear. Cause can only be money. The courier has been thrown out at the border because he had no passport, which was forgotten by ambassador. Intervention by me, Gienemuth and ‘Arif fruitless. Richthofen64 in Sofia at the train station.

22 July 1918 Khedive says that the sultan is seeking union with Germany, and indeed, the contact men are Rafik Bey, chamberlain, and Ismail Hakkı Bey, son of Tevfik Pasha the former grand vizier, who is said to come from a German mother and is German-educated.65 Cautions against overly rapid action for fear of unwholesome nonsense. Izzet Melik Bey gets off in Vienna, comments pessimistically to the khedive and as a friend of Djavid’s. ‘Abd ar-Rauf Bey, husband of the princess,66 likewise gets off.

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23 July 1918 Arrival at 3:00 in Berlin. At the train station, Ku¨hlmann, Romberg,67 Wesendonck, Grundherr.68 Trip in auto to the Kaiserhof. Visit along with khedive to Hintze. Nationalists visit the khedive. Visit to the Turkish embassy.

24 July 1918 In the evening, state secretary throws dinner at the Kaiserhof. Bussche,69 Kriege, Keller,70 Go¨ppert, Deutelmoser,71 Wesendonck, Romberg, Ku¨hlmann, Ro¨diger, General Bruse,72 Seherr-Thoss, Schmidt and Alexander Guttmann. I make conversation with both, which is very pleasing. Khedive wants to give me Medj. II,73 however it falls, I’m afraid, by the wayside.

25 July 1918 Frightful rant with Fielen. In the morning, visit to Hohenlohe in the hospital. Then, to the parents and the NfO. To lunch with Oppenheim. In the afternoon, Wundermacher with me. Khedive informs me that Amster74 is out as far as the visit to Belgium. Still the old suspicion. Von Renuzi and Seherr are supposed to accompany the khedive to the HQ. ‘Arif offended that he is considered suspicious.

26 July 1918 Still suspicious symptoms. Although Amster considers T. out of the question, Grundherr doesn’t believe that there’s anything against him. 10:00 am. Herbesthal,75 Belgian border. One sees hardly any ruins. All the land is cultivated. The villages make a dull, red-brick impression. For lunch, khedive gives Kitchener anecdotes as a treat. Around 7:00, arrival in Brussels.76 The entire military administration and many people at the train station. Dinner, 8:30 at the khedive’s place in the Palace Hotel. Lancken,77 Strempel, Nazim Bey, Moltke,78 Seherr, Grundherr, Ardt, Renuzi and I. Khedive somewhat sulky because we are going to the reception in the usual attire. ‘Arif bears the blame. ‘Arif and I didn’t go along to the HQ.

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27 July 1918 Khedive tells me about Nazim Bey, that he is the son of Nazim Pasha.79 Earlier, he served as an officer in Germany for two years, then banished by Abdu¨lhamid along with his father, came to Cairo. Entered into the khedivial service there, but has been proven untrustworthy. When Enver was recently in Brussels, Nazim refused to extend to him his hand (his own statement). Enver offered his apologies for it and didn’t explain, but a major who was recently hanged shot his father. Nazim maintains best relations with German officers who don’t hinder him from describing the German military situation as bad. Americans had proved themselves excellent, and so forth. Nazim is married to a French woman. Khedive warns about him. Prince Abdu¨rrahim80 is supposed to be marrying the daughter of the khedive, has already spoken about this plan here, as Strempel says to me, also in HQ. To the khedive, this is visibly unpleasant. He tells me that the prince spoke out in unfriendly fashion about the German officers. They comport themselves in Turkey as in a conquered country. “They treated our soldiers hayvan gibi81”. Khedive says dynasty must support Germany. Afternoon visit to the oil power plant, which interests the khedive very much. Around 1:00, de´jeuner82 with Falkenhausen,83 governor general. Present: Posadowsky,84 General Hurt, Governor of Brussels and Brabant, General von Winterfeldt,85 General von Zwehl, Commander of Antwerp,86 General von Soden, commander of Brussels, Count Moy,87 Captain Schaible,88 1st Lieutenant von Moltke, Major von Strempel,89 Baron von Saucken. The latter advised Grundherr to complain with Seherr because representatives of the AA are not allowed into the HQ. In the afternoon, visit to Nazim, then visit of Falkenhausen’s with the khedive. In the evening, dinner with General Hurt. There was Poppel the painter and Karl Gottfried Hohenlohe,90 beside which I am sitting. To my left, General von Winterfeld. Afterward still, Berchheim, khedive and unlucky descente91 with Seherr and Grundherr. We go to the HQ anyway.

28 July 1918 Late morning with Seherr to the general directorate because of the rail preparations. Breakfast together in the hotel. Departure of the khedive to the front. Ardt and I remain behind. Symptoms again. Afternoon

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with Hohenlohe. Excursion by car (cathedral, small baroque church, town hall, picture gallery, Bois). Evening meal with ‘Arif at the hotel. Then dinante (Merry Grill, gaıˆte´92). Balaa.93

29 July 1918 Late morning hunt for Weinkranz, is transferred to Kiev. Lunch with ‘Arif and Moltke at Nazim’s. Amiable and a wife with a somewhat nursemaid-like manner. Nicely furnished. Afternoon shopping. In the evening with Moltke, ‘Arif, Nazim in the Filet de Sole, then vaudeville (Coralie and Co.).

30 July 1918 Late morning shopping. Noon with ‘Arif, Moltke, Nazim at Filet de Sole. Afternoon visit with the antique dealers, then with Hohenlohe. Hakkı Pasha94 has died. Nazim considers Djavid the most promising successor. Perhaps also Tevfik95 or Osman Nizami.96 Evening meal in the hotel. At 9:45, arrival of the khedive, very satisfied, although repeated aerial attacks. Immediately continued further. Hopefully Sai’d Halim will not become Hakkı’s successor.

31 July 1918 Arrival at 6:00 in the morning in Spa.97 Reception at the train, 8:30. Count Moltke, Count Platen,98 Zeki Pasha, Gru¨nau.99 Late morning exchange of visits between khedive and His Majesty. Midday breakfast with His Majesty. Very gracious to me. Also there Prince Heinrich,100 Waldemar101 and the Reichschancellor. Eichhorn is murdered in Kiev.102 After lunch, excursion by car. Departure to Berlin, 5:00. Impression of the khedive on GHQ quite good, as Gru¨nau tells me. I think however khedive somewhat disappointed. Berlin, 1 August 1918.103 To the Foreign Office, Berlin. His Highness the Khedive arrived in Spa accompanied by his adjutant General Ramzi Pasha,104 the head of the cabinet ‘Arif Pasha,

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cavalry captain Count Seherr-Thoss, cavalry captain von Grundherr, and me on the morning of 31 July. At the train station, besides His Excellency the chamberlain Count von Platen, legation counsel Baron von Gru¨nau, Count Moltke and General Zeki Pasha had gathered for the reception. Around 11:00, the khedive proceeded with his adjutant from the villa assigned to him for the duration of his stay to His Majesty the Emperor, who immediately returned the visit and remained together with His Highness longer than half an hour. After the visit, the entourage was honored with a decoration ceremony. To the khedive, His Majesty presented his bust in bronze and a drawing of the villa that he was occupying in Spa. Around 1:00, a breakfast took place with His Majesty, in which, besides the khedive and his entourage and the gentlemen of the general headquarters, their royal highnesses the princes Heinrich and Waldemar and His Excellency the Lord Reichschancellor took part. Afterwards, His Majesty in turn remained talking with the khedive for a long time. During the afternoon, His Highness made a one-hour automobile ride in the area surrounding Spa. Around 5:00, the return trip was started. The course of the visit may well be regarded as thoroughly satisfying. Not only did His Highness repeatedly assure me and Herr von Grundherr during the ride that he felt gladdened by the friendly reception which he found at General Headquarters, but also His Majesty and especially Prince Heinrich had, as Herr von Gru¨nau told me, the best impression of the khedive. The discussion between His Majesty and the khedive seemed, as the latter indicated to me, to have revolved more around questions of a general nature, as far as the political area was touched on. Oriental policy, especially as regards Egypt, seems not to have been discussed. I may perhaps mention in closing that in the passage, His Majesty said to me in a jocularly threatening manner: “Next time, I insist on seeing you again in free Egypt!” Pru¨fer

1 August 1918 Arrival in Berlin, 7:50 am. Visit to office. Romberg, Wesendonck. Noon with Devlet in hotel. Afternoon visit of Dr Haas,105 who is

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running the project in Switzerland supported by Wesendonck, because he likes to live in this country. Muhammad Farid shows up in spite of my discussion with Wesendonck. Met Padel in the office. Clearly envious. Afternoon again in the office, also with Ku¨hlmann. In the evening tells me stories about the khedive’s family. Has fully broken with ‘Abd al Mun’aim.106 He allegedly obtained 5,000 francs (in reality 2,500 francs) monthly from the English. Wants to marry Fuad’s107 daughter in order to become heir apparent more acceptable to England.108

2 August 1918 Late morning visits. Afternoon at the parents’. Evenings at the Metropol Theater with khedive. Hentig with me.

3 August 1918 Late morning conversation with Wesendonck, Haas and Amster in the office regarding Egyptians in Switzerland. Idiotic interview of the khedive with Prof. Stein.109 In the evening with Grundherr and Otto in Mascotte.

4 August 1918 Late morning at the parents’. Afternoon with Below. In the evening with the khedive, Grundherr and Amster on the Grunewald race track.110

5 August 1918 Interview of the khedive with Dr Wegener (slime bag), a creature of Wesendonck’s. Visit to the museum with Sarre.111 Hartmann von Richthofen is making for the khedive financial proposals. Makes defeatist remarks. In the evening, Grundherr, Hohenlohe, Below, Seherr and Tiedemann with me in the Mascotte.

6 August 1918 Late morning in War Ministry with Ramsey. Noon lunch ¨ mer Faruk,112 Djavid, Rashid Safid, Strempel, Seherr. with Prince O Djavid comes too late. Afternoon, lots of work. Evening with the parents.

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7 August 1918 Departure 8:00 in the morning with khedive, Ramzi, ‘Arif, Amster, Grundherr to Marienburg.113 Arrival at 5:30. Received at the train station by the district council and privy councillor von Etzdorf and son. Sightseeing to the castle under the guidance of councillor Steinbrecht. Meal in hotel, then departure to Cadinen.114 Arrival late in the evening. First impression: bourgeois, boring.

8 August 1918 Late morning departure to the estate and visit of the brick works. Noon, celebratory meal. Afternoon interview of the Mohammedan prisoners who complain about bad treatment. Then, drive in the forest. Departure, 8:56 pm.

9 August 1918 Arrival with two-hour delay at 9:30 in the morning. Consternation with Romberg over the affair of the North Africans. In the evening with Mu¨ller, Perzynski115 and Wegener. Very literary talk. Fuad Selim departed. Has been pestering the khedive.

10 August 1918 Masaa’,116 arrived. Evening with Hohenlohe and masaa’ with Rochard.

11 August 1918 Afternoon in Babelsburg117 with Hohenlohe at Below’s on his house boat. Rifaat Pasha named as ambassador. Khedive very depressed about the English offensive118 and the Russian collapse.119 Berlin, 11 August 1918.120 To the AA. His Highness the khedive made the following communication to me about ‘Aziz ‘Ali:121 Once he began to be a threat to Enver Pasha’s influence while in Tripoli during the Italian war, he was called back to Constantinople,

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where, at Enver’s instigation, he was put on trial for high treason. He was condemned to death, but due to the intervention of the khedive and the English government (which hoped to make itself popular in Egypt through taking this step), he was pardoned. He subsequently returned to Egypt. At the beginning of the war, offers were made to him concerning the undertaking of a mission to Arabia by the English, who appealed to his debt of gratitude. He supposedly rejected these suggestions, however, because he did not want to act directly for English interests.122 With the outbreak of the Arab revolt, circumstances changed for him because now he could pursue his most cherished ambition, the autonomy of the Arab districts of Turkey. As a result, ‘Aziz ‘Ali entered the service of the Sharif of Mecca. For reasons unknown to the the khedive – he suspects frictions with the English and disillusionment with the actual progress of the revolt, by which he saw Arabia being brought under English influence – he soon left the sharif again, though.123 The khedive considers ‘Aziz ‘Ali, whom he knows very well, as a shrewd and clever man worthy of being taken seriously, and one who possesses influence and a following in Arabia. He is said to be quite steeped in the ideal of Arab independence, and as a result is supposedly as equally well-disposed to the English as to the Turks. If it could be decided in Constantinople to grant concessions to the Arabs in the direction of their autonomy, ‘Aziz ‘Ali could be assigned as mediator for the sharif, because the goal of most of the Arab insurgents consists not of complete separation of the Arab countries from Turkey, but rather only their internal autonomy under nominal Turkish rule. The khedive does not consider it out of the question that ‘Aziz ‘Ali could find himself going to Constantinople, were he to be granted safe conduct. Without Turkish concessions to the Arabs, however, it would have to be negotiated. Pru¨fer

12 August 1918 Kh. with Erzberger124 and Richthofen. Padel wants to go to Geneva, and is trying to rope in the khedive. Evening fest with Amster, Hohenlohe, Kindle, Grundherr. Ramzi away.

13 August 1918 In Wannsee.125 Then, in the office.

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14 August 1918 Medj. II. Lots of work in the office. Departure in the evening for Munich.

15 August 1918 To the train, Stengel with Hofmayer. Visit to the Prussian consulate with Reuther. Evening with Grundherr and Amster in the Bonhommiere Hotel Regina Palace.

16 August 1918 At noon with the king.126 Commented to me disparagingly about Prussian rudeness, which sets the whole world against us. Hof very warweary and very well-informed about political relations in the Orient. Khedive is being influenced towards defeatism by Count Moy and Dandl.127 Evening in the Odeon. Royal and Imperial Consul General von Ramberg128 tells khedive that he along with a team in Switzerland has negotiated unsuccessfully with English General Sims through the mediation of Parodi.129 ‘Arif remains in Munich.

17 August 1918 Arrival around 11:30 in Garmisch.130 At the train station, district authorities, von Stengel and General Heinl. Khedive unsatisfied with the hotel. Complains to me and unfairly to us all, especially to Amster. Received letter from Nurredin about ‘Abd al-Mun’aim. Would like me to travel to Switzerland in order to lure the prince to Germany for around 1,000 francs monthly. Referring this report to Romberg. I’m getting very skeptical. In the hotel, the sister of the kaiser, Princess von SchaumbergLippe,131 along with her nephew Prince Adolph132 the reigning prince and Countess Montgelas, Herr von Hrugrzka, Jew and political shyster, and friend Sureya Vloras, surfaced, but didn’t appear later in the hotel as planned. In the evening, scene with the very nervous Amster who shrinks in the presence of ‘Ali Denir in relation to the khedive.

17 August 1918133 Very revered Lord Privy Councillor,

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His majesty the khedive received today a letter from Nureddin Effendi out of Zu¨rich, in which he reports about a chance encounter which he had with the Egyptian heir to the throne, Prince ‘Abd al Mun’aim. From Nureddin’s report, the khedive has gotten the impression – which I also share after examination of the letter – that the prince finds himself in financial perplexities and would therefore not be unfavorably disposed towards a proposal for relocating to Germany with a corresponding apanage. As he communicated to Nureddin, the prince is currently receiving from the English a monthly stipend of 5,000 Fr., which he however has declared to be not at all adequate. This is why he has asked for an increase in his income to at least 1,000 pounds monthly. Nureddin is now of the view that he has little prospect for getting his demand approved. Consequently, the khedive believes the moment has arrived to grant him this stipend in case Germany should still be interested in the prince, on condition that he moves to Germany. In the event that the German government takes up the matter, he makes the suggestion that I be sent to Switzerland to make contact with ‘Abd al Mun’aim through the mediation of Nureddin, Sureya Bey and Neshat Pasha,134 who have influence on the prince and who would be ready for this job in exchange for pecuniary advantages. The matter would have to be handled in such a way that it would involve the prince through the named middlemen, that his father would be ready to forgive him if he came to Germany, and that he in this circumstance would be willing to pay for the desired apanage for him, which in reality would have to be mostly defrayed by us. A direct approach on our part to the prince ought to be completely avoided, so the negotiators on their part would have to communicate the wishes of the prince to the khedive in a pro forma manner. Under no circumstances must the impression be aroused in him that this is a German proposal, because in this case, it is to be feared that he would make use of the situation as a means of putting pressure on the English. Because the prince is said to be an insecure character, the khedive requests the fastest decision possible, in the case they want to agree to the offer to exploit the momentary mood and plight of ‘Abd al Mun’aim. With the most enthusiastic greetings and regards, I remain, very revered privy councilor. Your completely devoted Pru¨fer

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17 August 1918135 To the Foreign Office. His Majesty the khedive was received on his arrival in Munich on the 16th of the month at the train station by the privy legation counselor and chamberlain of His Majesty the king of Bavaria, Baron von Stengel, and conducted in the court vehicle to his room at the Regina Palace Hotel. Later in the course of the late morning, the khedive received the visit of the Prussian envoy, His Excellency von Schoen. After a driving tour through the city, His Highness reciprocated this visit on the same afternoon. On the following morning, minister of state His Excellency von Dandl spoke with the khedive. In the afternoon, the khedive was invited together with his entourage to a meal at court by His Majesty the king. At the table, from the royal household, the princesses Wiltrud and Helmtrud,136 as well as His Excellency von Dandl, took part. After the meal, the king still lingered in conversation with the khedive and his entourage for about three quarters of an hour. The conversation essentially revolved around economic and agricultural things. The khedive communicated to me later that the war weariness in Bavaria is greater than in Prussia. In the afternoon, His Highness paid short visits to Prince Leopold,137 the princes Konrad, Alphons and Louis Ferdinand,138 as well as His Excellency von Dandl. Meanwhile, His Majesty the king personally left for the khedive a card in the hotel. The princes also did the same around evening. Decorations were not bestowed. In the evening, the khedive allowed an interview with a representative of the Munich Newest News after consultation with Baron von Stengel, in which any discussions of politics was avoided. The text is most obediently enclosed. This morning, the khedive departed with his entourage to Garmisch, where he was received at the train station by district officer Baron von Stengel, an uncle of the privy legation counselor, and the local commander, Major General Heinle. The chief of cabinet ‘Arif Pasha has remained by his wish in Munich, where his brother, a sculptor, lives. Pru¨fer

18 August 1918 Khedive, still angry, is going for a walk with ‘Ali Denir, who repeated to him the whole angry scene. Afternoon excursion with khedive,

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Grundherr and ‘Ali to the Eibsee by auto. Khedive speaks practically nothing but Arabic with ‘Ali. Fuad arrives.

19 August 1918 Frau Amster arrives. Borchardt visits the Khedive. Still irritated attitude. Khedive visits the princess. Commercial counselor Ballin,139 furniture dealer around Munich with khedive.

20 August 1918 Khedive goes walking now every morning with ‘Ali. I eat alone in my room, because to me, the loathsome tattle-tale ‘Ali is too disagreeable. Afternoon excursion with Grundherr to the Partnach Gorge. There we meet Friedrich. Joint return trip. In the evening, khedive and Grundherr with the princess.

21–30 August 1918 Tedium in Garmisch. Growing intimacy with the princess and Countess Montgelas and Seline von Schlotheim. In the evenings, boozing, dancing and flirting, hectic room parties and the like. Friedrich departs on the 26th for Berlin. Khedive has his portrait painted by Risckens, me too. Has connections with film diva Storck. Family Carnap turned up. Entire world very depressed about Entente offensive. Meet Prince ‘Abd al Qadir140 with Jedid and Sa’id Kamil141 in Munich. Berlin, 3 September 1918.142 To the AA. His Highness the khedive took the opportunity to return once more to the business of possibly relocating his oldest son, the heir ‘Abd al Mun’aim. He said to me that privately he had indeed utterly broken with his son, because the son had behaved towards him in such a way that made a genuine forgiveness towards him almost an impossibility, in that he had not only grieved and harmed him politically in the worse way through his desertion to the English, but also through intrigues within the family. Nevertheless, if he considered Prince ‘Abd al Mun’aim’s relocation to Germany worthwhile, it would finally happen

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once he comes to regard a renunciation of the English by the prince politically useful. He let it be taken into consideration that he certainly acts against his own material interests by this behavior, because it would doubtless be more expedient from the financial standpoint if his oldest son and heir would not break with the English, and thus possibly remain in the position to at least immediately save his property in Egypt. As far as the character of the prince is concerned, the khedive describes him to me as an extremely inconstant, weak and violenttempered person who is easily amenable to foreign influences, and is utterly helpless, particularly in financial and erotic things. He is, as unfortunately all the children on the mother’s side are, hereditarily troubled. The mother of the prince, the khediva, comes out of a family in which mental illness is hereditary. This manifestation of sickliness has expressed itself in both brothers of the mother in a number of violent crimes, and in the khediva and her daughters in extreme hysteria. His youngest daughter is paralyzed and deaf. At quite a young age, Prince ‘Abd al Mun’aim once before tried to commit suicide for rather trival reasons, and has likewise shown alarmingly sadistic inclinations, like his younger brother.143 Nonetheless, you perhaps must ascribe many flaws in his children to the sad environment in which they grew up. With respect to the financial settlement of the affair, the khedive declared himself ready for me to take over all obligations. If he had sought after German mediation for settling this question, it would have happened only for this reason, because he cannot trust his own people and must much more suspect that they would betray him to the English. The khedive explained to me, then, in rough outline the following plans: I should try in consultation with Nureddin Bey to get in contact with one of the prince’s trusted people (Sureya, Djevdet or Neshat Pasha). One of the people should then explain to the prince that his father is ready to forgive him under the condition that he relocates to Germany and he, the liaison, would then provide for not only his hereditary obligations being paid, but that an apanage of at least 20 marks monthly would also be approved from his father’s side. In every case, it must be avoided that Prince ‘Abd al Mun’aim gets the impression that the proposal is originating from the German side. Even more so, the prince must come to the conviction that he has to make the opening step towards reconciliation with his father. Whether the connection is to be established through one of the named mediators or through any one else,

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it must remain left up to me in consultation with Nureddin. In describing the prince, the khedive explained to me further that his son hopes to be able to come to the throne through a marriage with the daughter of Sultan Fuad, who is without a male heir. He has even said to Dr Sayyid Kamil that Sir Reginald Wingate has written a letter to him in which he declares himself in agreement with the marriage scheme. When Sayyid Kamil asked him to show him this letter, though, the prince made excuses, so it is assumed that he made the story up. On the other hand, Prince ‘Abd al Mun’aim is maintaining a love relationship with one of the daughters of Djavid Bey. This girl, to whom he is even said to have promised marriage, allegedly holds great influence over him. In any case, the khedive considers the fastest action in the affair to be imperative, because it is feared that the martial events on the Western Front may act unfavorably on the mood of the heir apparent.144 Pru¨fer Berlin, 18 September 1918.145 To the Foreign Office, Berlin. Ibrahim Khalil has stated to me in repeated visits that he is a cousin of Emir Ibn Rashid and the representative who in Damascus had the task of supervising the financial operations of Ibn Rashid’s envoy there, Rished Pasha. Towards this purpose, he came with Ibn Rashid some months ago from Ha’il146 to Mada’in Salih,147 and traveled from there on the last Hijaz train to Damascus. His cousin has returned to Ha’il. He has traveled, then, further from Constantinople and is now here to do business, particularly with the sugar trade. When I interjected that doing business is really much easier for an Ottoman subject in Turkey than in Berlin, he confessed to me that the real purpose of his traveling was to speak with the German government about the resolution of the Arab question. I replied to him that we indeed had great sympathy for the Arabs, as for all Ottoman peoples, but that a resolution of this question would only be possible between Turks and Arabs. Khalil spoke then about the conditions in the Hijaz and in Egypt, and he did not fail in this opportunity to hold up for us the English as a political model. Against the khedive, he indulged himself in violently insulting talk. In general, he showed himself to be astonishingly wellinformed about the state of affairs in Turkey.

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I have the definite impression that Ibrahim Khalil is sent here by a certain Turkish faction, presumably the Tes¸kilat Odası (‘Ahmad Fuad) whose name he mentioned, in order to provoke us, and at the same time make propaganda against the khedive. That he lied to me on several points, I have already been able to ascertain. He is related to Ibn Rashid in no way, comes originally instead from Medina, where he belongs to a Shiite merchants’ sect, is without influence and is downright despised. His dialect already betrays that he in no way comes from the Najd. He speaks much more like the Egyptians who live on the Red Sea. Ibrahim Khalil has a reference with him from Ismail Hakkı Bey, the son of Tevfik Pasha, and also claims to be known to Prince Burhan ad Din.148 Pru¨fer149 Berlin, 2 November 1918.150 To Legation Counselor Herr von Wesendonck. German propaganda in Turkey undoubtedly did not have the success it needed to match the effort expended for it. We did not succeed in spite of all the promotional work during the war in making friends of the allied Turks and the foreign peoples subjected under them. To what extent the behavior of individual Germans in Turkey and the occasional holding back of our officials due to political and military considerations in certain situations may be responsible, let it not be discussed here. In any case, though, our actual propaganda system is responsible for damage which should be avoided in the future. Propaganda through print and image was centralized in the News Bureau for the Orient – which in the end was placed under me – and the approximately 60 news rooms in Constantinople and the provinces subordinate to it. The propaganda material derived its authority exclusively from the Foreign Office, or rather, from the News Bureau for the Orient and the Photo and Film Office. This material consisted of newspapers, magazines, brochures and photographs, which were in part displayed in the news rooms and posted partly in schools, clubs, hospitals and other public agencies, as well as sent for free to influential private persons. Both the newspapers and also the pictures enjoyed the acclaim of the public, a fact which was proven through the continuously climbing demand. It was not so with the brochures. Without

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mentioning that production lagged far behind the need – during the time of my sojourn in Constantinople from March 1917 to August 1918, a total of only three Turkish pamphlets came out – the suitability of the contents of the pamphlet for the goal aspired to was quite questionable. This was, in my humble opinion, not the fault of the author, but the result of earlier neglect. I come hereby to the really essential point of the whole problem. Our propaganda suffered because during the war it tried to make up for in urgency what it had neglected in peace. Before the war, Turks, Arabs, Armenians and Greeks had only rather nebulous concepts of Germany and German character, which also were instilled in them in a way unfriendly to us partly through the widespread presence of French, English and American boarding schools. Through the schools, knowledge of the language gained currency by means of the literature of the countries concerned. People only knew us as shrewd merchants, and often through our all-too-great thrift and our loud manner, as disagreeably flamboyant tourists. To be sure, there were also German schools in Turkey. These were, though, non-boarding institutions, naturally not as successful in the influencing of the pupils as the boarding schools, then, and also more for the children of Germans living in Turkey, certainly, than for natives. When the war began, the mood in Turkey was nevertheless, with the exception of the Christian foreigners, not opposed to us in any way. People knew about us that we were strong, and anticipated from us the salvation of the decayed khalifate. Our self-promotional work, which we are using now, naturally focused exclusively on the war; at the same time there came later a more or less skillful economic propaganda. Soon it was found, after the fading of initial war enthusiasm, that our work was lacking the true foundation, mutual understanding. Our war reports, the endless string of brochures about cruelties of the enemy and our own glorious deeds, began to bore the public because it was growing tired of the war, and because it lacked the inner relationship with us. As good as nothing happened during the war to create this inner relationship. With weepy accusations against our enemies, with long-winded recitals of our success and inwardly untrue protestations of friendship for Islam, we tried to win sympathy for ourselves with a people that stood utterly far from us spiritually, and for whom belief in salvation through us gradually became lost. At the same time, it happened that our self-promotional activities had to focus from

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the outset too much on this. A propaganda that officially appears as propaganda acts on the suspicious orientals as proselytism, against which he believes himself obligated to take up a negative attitude. We will now in peace have the opportunity to once again make good these mistakes. Since the possibility of school-based propaganda will be closed to us, our self-promotional activity may presumably have to restrict itself to the written word and the image. As far as print propaganda is concerned for the time being, it must be our noblest goal to impart to the orientals the most in-depth knowledge of German character and spiritual life possible. Towards this goal, the largest number possible of carefully selected German books would have to be translated into the various languages of the Orient, just like German books in the original language are being introduced into the book trade of the countries concerned. A banishment of official or semi-official bodies I would consider inappropriate, because the odium of propaganda would cling to such activities again in a flash. The German bookshops already widely available could be of service. Where such are not available, they would have to be established. In addition, our pamphlet production does not need to stop. They only would have to appear in less clumsy and noisy form. All politics would be off for the time being. The contents would have to restrict itself to economic-cultural themes. Of special interest for the orientals, besides the questions arising out of the commercial and industrial domain, are philosophy, pedagogy and fine literature. For theoretical discussions of the exact sciences, he has less interest, because he regards it only as means for making money. Also, these pamphlets may perhaps not be distributed free of charge, but would likewise have to be offered for sale in the book trade instead. It would have to be further ensured that our large newspapers and magazines would provide for their distribution in more reasonable form, as it used to. Also here, booksellers would be recommended as suitable brokers. The public is accustomed to the German press through the activity of the newsrooms, thereby preparing the field for further adaptation. Translation, writing and editing of print material may fall under the future jurisdiction of the D.O.I.151 For the oversight of propaganda in Turkey, an official of the embassy familiar with the needs of the entire region, not just Constantinople, would suffice. Of particular importance in the future will be the work of selfpromotion through the image. It is readily evident that in a population

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of 80 – 90 per cent illiterates, viewing will be more influential than the written word. Because the news rooms with their permanent displays of picture series will no longer stand at our disposal in the future, the cinema theater will have to be made usable for our political and economic purposes to a greater degree than before. What was already said for print propaganda also applies here, that everything obtrusively propagandistic and recognizable as such from the outset is to be avoided. Also here, the most useful may be the most beneficial depiction of German life possible without obvious secondary motive. In the process, weight will have to be laid on an exciting, varied, but at the same time not too complicated treatment with the most splendid equipment possible. Everything doctrinal is to be avoided: we must seek to educate less than to please. The film must always be easily comprehensible to every non-German. It must show no local colors. Berlin jokes only work in Berlin and nowhere else in the world. Likewise, corny names like “Lehmschnut” for a painter, “Mucke” for a young girl and the like should be avoided throughout with respect to comic designations. To be completely discarded are foreign names like “Joe Deebs” and the like. In Constantinople, the German actor of this detective figure (Max Landa)152 virtually made propaganda for America, because nobody wanted to believe that he was a German. Great weight is to be laid on the translation of the subtitles. The French of our films was often so wretched that it achieved involuntarily hilarious results which were not beneficial in overall effect in tragic pieces. That consideration of religious and national peculiarities must be taken into account is self-evident. Besides dramatic films, the fostering of which should remain our noblest task, original propaganda films of course must be shown. Toward this end, I would recommend portrayals of trade, industry, public life, presentations of scenes from shipping, mining, farming and the like. It would also be advantageous in my view to make the object to be displayed to the viewer more interesting when possible by interweaving a short story with it. Because a censorship of film will hardly be possible to perform in peacetime for theater pieces exported to the Orient, it would perhaps be expedient if the film companies involved would submit in their own interests to a consultation by experts before they send their wares to the Orient. This consulting authority could likewise be the D.O.I. This way, costly and politically annoying incidents would be avoided, as was the

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order of the day earlier. I mention as proof only the case in which at the request of a film contractor working with the “Ufa”153 in Constantinople, a large shipment of films went out to Tiflis, which was afterwards labeled by General von Kress as unsuitable and highly offensive for the public there, and could not be put on. If our companies cannot resolve to send to the Orient only the very best, and carefully test them beforehand in every way by experts with good taste, then they will never be able to compete with the excellent foreign films imported there, and they will also only contribute to the deepening of the prejudice against the “German Camelot” in their region. The economic propaganda, which previously consisted substantially of the posters featured for announcement by the German overseas service in the news rooms, will probably have to be entirely left up to private initiative in the future. After all, it would be in my humble opinion good here if after recommencement of possibilities for economic activity, businessmen and manufacturers would be officially pointed to the existence of the D.O.I., which would take over the examination and assessment of the publicity material with respect to its technical and substantive suitability. Pru¨fer

EPILOGUE

The Ottoman Empire Pru¨fer had fought to prop up was now doomed. The Young Turks’ decision to fight a global war militarily and economically weak and ill-prepared had condemned it to certain defeat, a defeat hastened by the Arab persecutions, the Armenian genocide and other repressive wartime policies. Unwilling to accept responsibility for their role in the disaster, the Young Turk leaders Enver, Talaat and Djemal fled Constantinople in early November.1 Just days later, on 11 November, Germany capitulated to the Allies, ending the war in Europe. The global holy war campaign had failed to inspire Entente Muslim subjects to defect to the Ottoman cause. It likewise failed to excite patriotic fervor amongst the Ottoman Empire’s own Muslims, who had grown increasingly unenthusiastic or even passively resistant as the war progressed. Few, especially among non-Turks, gave credence to Islamist propaganda that was manufactured by Christian foreigners, and which promoted Turkish domination of the Islamic world.2 By contrast, the Entente grasped, as their enemies did not, that a people will never fight for the interests of foreign masters as passionately as it will fight for its own. Consequently, the British and French made many declarations supporting postwar self-rule and nationhood as an enticement to recruit Ottoman and Entente Muslims to fight the Turks at their side. There was a catch, though: Entente promises were just a tactic of war, not a profoundly embraced moral conviction.3 Now that the Allies had broken Turkish power, they no longer needed the aid of

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their Muslim collaborators. In a blatant double-cross, the victorious Allies began seizing the pieces of the shattered Ottoman Empire for themselves as spoils of war, a flurry of postwar empire-building often called “the Great Loot”.4 In protest, violent insurrections erupted throughout the Middle East. Bloody riots broke out in Egypt in March 1919 after the British thwarted Egyptian attempts to make their case for independence at the Paris peace conference.5 Anti-French uprisings in Syria followed in mid-1919, growing in intensity after Faysal ibn Husayn’s failed attempt to unilaterally declare himself king of Syria in March 1920.6 Throughout 1920, another revolt in Mesopotamia killed thousands before British troops suppressed it. Ominously, the first outbreaks of Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine began to appear at this time also. To keep the peace, the British installed the nowexiled Faysal as king of Mesopotamia, and his brother ‘Abdullah, who had been threatening to attack the French in Syria, as king of Transjordan.7 With the fires mostly put out and friendly client rulers installed in key places, the new Anglo – French masters of liberated Ottoman territory consolidated an unassailable, iron grip on the region that would last for a generation. Thus, a historic opportunity for the emergence of a constellation of new, independent nation states was thrown away, and the peoples of the Middle East would never forget it. The troubles of this region were just beginning, though, for the native dictators that replaced European colonialists after 1945 were far more brutally repressive than their predecessors. The pushback from those whose aspirations to self-rule have been repeatedly crushed has grown more angry, malevolent and even nihilistic in the decades since then. Curt Pru¨fer – one of the men indirectly responsible for unleashing the century-long maelstrom – spent the closing weeks of 1918 helping other Turkish and Arab political refugees escape to Germany and Switzerland, and managing the dissolution of the News Bureau for the Orient. Initially shocked at Germany’s defeat, Pru¨fer became tremendously embittered as he struggled to comprehend how such a “patient, good-natured, sentimental and disciplined nation . . . pursuing a war of self-defense” (as he saw it) could lose on the battlefield. His blind nationalism, inflamed by political turmoil in Germany and

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abroad, led him to blame machinations by the German political left, foreign Bolshevism and international Jewry for Germany’s devastating defeat. Outrages to Pru¨fer’s sense of justice only multiplied further throughout the course of the peace negotiations in Paris in 1919, in which it became clear that the Allies were intent on saddling Germany with responsibility for starting the war and punishing her by imposing politico-economic sanctions and stripping away her overseas colonies.8 Germany, the nation that could do no wrong, sat at the heart of Pru¨fer’s view of the world. Loyalty placed the greatness of Germany above everything, even his own publicly stated opposition to militaristic imperialism, which he had violated by spending four years promoting Turkish domination of the Middle East. But he had done it all for the sake of Germany, to which the truth regarding the relative value of self-determination versus foreign domination for national gain did not apply. Pru¨fer carried this unshaken belief in German greatness at home and in its right to project power abroad into his postwar career. Publicly, he engaged in traditional relationship-building with newly independent nations in the Muslim world like Afghanistan and Turkey, and with the Zionist movement throughout the 1920s. In secret, his rejection of the new Allied world order led him to resume9 his subterranean plotting with old wartime comrades, a sign of his obliviousness to the growing turmoil his nation’s policy had unleashed in the Middle East. He maintained contacts with Enver and Djemal, who by then had been condemned to death in absentia by war crimes tribunals in Constantinople. He helped plan an unsuccesful armed coup d’e´tat against British authorities in Egypt on behalf of the ex-khedive ‘Abbas Hilmi in 1924.10 All the while, throughout the 1920s, the veteran diplomat steadily advanced through the AA’s ranks. He obtained diplomatic postings to Georgia, Ethiopia and Yemen and, by 1930, became the deputy director of the AA’s Abteilung III (the Anglo-American/Oriental Affairs Division).11 While Pru¨fer was laboring to rebuild German power abroad during these years, Germany was suffering cruelly at home from the hardships brought by revolution, crushing war reparations and the global economic meltdown of the Great Depression. In reaction, desperate, angry Germans began looking for more extreme solutions to their

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country’s ills. By the late 1920s, an electrifying new political movement – the Nazis – appeared on the scene, promising national salvation, and in January 1933, they were elected to power as the new leaders of Germany’s government. The AA old guard now faced a choice: stay and serve the new regime, or resign. Pru¨fer thoroughly despised the Nazis as unsophisticated thugs, and later claimed that for years after the Nazi advent, he and his AA colleagues remained regime outsiders unaware of the scope of the coming violence. In truth, Pru¨fer and the Nazis were both bound and determined to dismantle the hated Versailles treaty, and both shared a deep antisemitism (though to differing degrees), and the goal of making Germany great again. So Pru¨fer stayed at his post, becoming AA personnel and budget director in 1936, and finally the German ambassador to Brazil.12 Pru¨fer arrived in Brazil on 17 September 1939, hardly three weeks after the outbreak of World War II on 1 September. His main mission was to keep Brazil neutral, which failed with the rupture of relations between Brazil and Germany in January 1942, followed by Brazil’s declaration of war in August. The Germany to which Pru¨fer returned was terribly battered by battlefield losses and constant Allied bombing raids, and was, as he soon realized, heading toward defeat. In September 1943, Pru¨fer went on leave from the AA and took his family to Switzerland to await the end of the war. When the end finally came in May 1945, Germany’s cities were in ruins, and the cruelties of the Nazi regime exposed to the world. For the second time in a generation, Pru¨fer had backed causes that had brought ruin and defeat to his country, but once again, this unrepentant, unquestioning servant of the German state failed to learn the obvious lessons of history.13 An end to the veteran diplomat’s active role as player on the world stage came with his official retirement from the AA on 1 April 1945.14 Pru¨fer died in 1959,15 leaving behind a tragically ambivalent legacy. As one of the most gifted, brilliant German Arabists of his time, he had much good to offer, yet he chose to place his tremendous talents at the disposal of misguided or evil regimes that brought great suffering and ruin to the world. Not even catastrophic defeats in two world wars moved this unrepentant nationalist to learn or grow from his mistakes. Pru¨fer’s biggest mistake was surely his World War I-era campaign to manipulate the world’s Muslim population for strategic, national

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advantage, with unintended, incredibly destructive consequences. A century later, a new generation of global power players has continued this time-honored practice of meddling in Muslim world affairs, with the predictably poisonous outcomes – violence, turmoil and war – confronting us on the front pages of our newspapers every day. And still, the tormented Middle East burns, waiting for someone who can learn the lessons of the past.

APPENDIX I

Memoirist and former FA 300 airman Richard Euringer recounts a fascinating scene in which the airmen are sitting around the table in their makeshift desert bar, trading late-night scuttlebutt. When questions arise about the situation in Arabia, all eyes turn for answers to Curt Pru¨fer. Euringer narrates:1 “Does Sidi want to tell us what is being done in Medina? And what is playing itself out in Mecca? Is it true that ‘Ali Bey, Husayn’s son, has threatened the Turkish commander? Is it true that the sharif is demanding hereditary sovereignty over all of Arabia, and that the recognition of it depends on his conduct? (‘Softly!’ says Sidi). Even more softly then: is it true that Djemal Pasha is sending the only hostage from the house of Husayn that he actually has in hand, Faysal, to Medina? Supposedly to bring Husayn’s camel rider corps here? And does Sidi seriously believe that Shaykh Faysal, if he escapes, would ever let himself be seen again? Sidi explains he is not authorized to give out such information, particularly at so late an hour. His private opinion remains this: Djemal Pasha is unpredictable. He cannot look into the cards as far as these precarious things go. In the end, he is the only man who has the power to possibly keep Husayn in line. Mecca is now a power. Ottomandom has sinned against Arabia. Enver knows this also, of course. The Turk dominates, he subjects. This thing that concerns the little word ‘pasha’, this rule by riding-crop, is just bad for the Arab now. You can win him – if you offer him what he dreams about.

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But you have to know him. Kick him and you won’t have him, then. The mechanical bureaucracy by which Ottoman policy functions is an abominable thing to the desert shaykhs. They would rather tolerate a bearded despot like Djemal Pasha. His capriciousness opens up room to play for certain ambitions. It more or less revolves around outmaneuvering rivals. You promote the powerful man in order to bask in his favor. The price of this mutual favor is delicately hammered out by swindling. A shaykh weighs its significance in terms of yearly money that the government grants to him. The government calculates in turn the level of subsidy (negatively) relative to the riskiness of the intriguer concerned (positively) according to his talent in dutifully keeping troublesome people off its neck. Obssessive envy and greed ensures that not one of the illustrious ones obliterates all others. The skillful benefactor, on the other hand, fishes in the muddy waters created by this scheming. Just so is Djemal Pasha always playing the one who still has something to expect against all others. Naturally, nothing gets done because of this. The Young Turks haven’t had time to go into the Arab problem and study it. Perhaps they lack the institutional means. Enver is a natural Napoleon, a person who tears land maps to pieces without reflecting on whether the tear is going through the middle of a people for the moment. In the worst case, they get deported. That is all certainly just a means to the end. First of all, it is only about life and death. Much later, the world will be put in order. For him, Islam has the duty to rise up against England. Whatever the Turks can do after the war to satisfy the Arabs is a question to be considered at a later date. In the meantime, he views things like a soldier. The sharif sees them like a diplomat. Even if Djemal confronted him, it would still not be the time for the executioner to cut into such questions of fateful significance like melons, so Husayn smiles: ‘Even now. Now that you all need me, need me so inevitably! Now that I am in the position to sell the khalifate to the Tommies!2 I won’t do it. I am ready even to stir up the holy cities. But I know what I am worth to you, but you won’t make it known to me. It can’t be arranged with money. I demand an amnesty for all those whom you are stringing up as criminals. I demand compensation for opportunities I sacrificed. My opportunities are mounting continually. They’re offering me something, I don’t know what. I am to have it. Decide! Without conditions! I can put before you an ultimatum.’

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We asked Sidi: And is Husayn really the person to unite Arabia together, possibly with force? Sidi smiled. ‘Husayn is a blusterer. He apparently considers himself a genie, because the British are flirting with him. He is getting pushed and believes he can push too. There are completely different people, in Najd, in Yemen, brooding, inscrutable ones of few words who are thinking of Arabia, and not just about their power base. Husayn already knows what he wants. Because he possesses the imaret,3 he towers above all others. Any nonsense that he engages in can hardly be redressed. Still, he will not conquer Arabia for the Arabs. At best, he is helping the gentlemen in London punch a hole in Turkey.’”

APPENDIX II

As the pilots kill time waiting for favorable flying conditions, talk once again drifts to controversial subjects. Pru¨fer again shares his thoughts, this time on the Armenian genocide. Euringer writes:1 “In Jerusalem, Djemal earlier counted as a friend of the Armenians, then as their enemy. But Dr Ypher arguably knows better than that. ‘Oh, well,’ Sidi went on. . . ‘Enver and Djemal themselves are only figures in the tragedy that is playing out there. They can hardly oversee things from Turkey alone. The main defendants in the whole trial – the powers, Russia and England first and foremost – are not taking action at all in this affair; at best, accusers after the fact. Nonetheless, though, they have methodically brought about the situation, which they are now laying on Turkey as a burden. By the way, they are not lifting a hand to save the people through action. They are using it for propaganda. The atrocity, which they are successfully exploiting so well, pleases them, but they don’t hinder the ruin. They just have ‘nothing to do with it.’ And it is no trivial matter to settle in the desert one-and-a-half million people – there may be this many currently on the move – who are there for this purpose. Without means of transport, without food! Whether Talaat seriously intends to make them settle permanently somewhere else once again is hard to determine. Their industry is broken. They smashed their looms. They cannot carry that much in order to somehow begin again by themselves. The women are giving the children away to save them, so now, they lack their last support. They themselves are the next victim. Because they are Christians and proud, you can imagine what has come

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to pass. Enver’s arm does not reach there where the details are playing themselves out. At most, he ‘forbids.’ That, say, he would jump at the chance to take a better look at the misery on the way to Kut is improbable. Since he can’t change what has to happen and knows no better solution, he is letting things take their course. That is Turkish, is Ottoman. Djemal may practice magnanimity in individual cases – and he does – for the most part, he will change nothing, can change nothing. The destruction is not decided by three men, but through circumstances and fate, for which they don’t feel responsible. They carry it out in such a way that where possible, it carries itself out. That is not to excuse it, hardly to understand it. And you yourself could do nothing? ‘Me?’ Sidi smiled dreamily. ‘Don’t remind me of what we have tried to do towards this end. The only thing that could save the Armenians, just like with unsnarling Arabia, is and remains the German victory. A victory which – after a decade of war! – would finally allow the Turks enough air that they could begin to breathe. First, you see, you have to save the Turkish people from starvation and misery before you can expect them to save another people. Whoever joins in with that, whatever Enver experiences day by day, he must consider himself as the chosen one of a giant revolution, in which it doesn’t come down to a few million living or dead. Enver believes in this victory and doesn’t take the victims into account. Enver would move the last man away from the Bosporus and sends divisions to the western front, if you could convince him that the decision falls there. Enver would strip Syria, the Caucasus, the Persian Gulf bare, would hand over the last cannon if he knew that the objective would be accomplished. For he needs it, he needs the victory, needs the peace as the point of departure for everything else that hovers before him. Whatever it costs, that’s what it costs. Whether Armenia is to be saved depends like so many things on how long the crazy pressure from the outside forces him to deeds of desperation. Whether a victorious Turkey would then exterminate the “arch enemy” as its first act, only ‘Allah knows, for the Asiatic is unpredictable in this respect. A victorious Germany, however, would be allowed to find means and ways to still speak a little word.’”

NOTES

Introduction 1. Robert Casimir Mors, a German officer in Alexandria’s multi-national police force. Donald McKale, Curt Pru¨fer: German Diplomat from the Kaiser to Hitler, Kent, OH, 1987, p. 28. 2. Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914. Donald McKale, War by Revolution, Kent, OH, 1998, p. 46. 3. The British occupied Egypt after suppressing an Egyptian army revolt there in 1882. Though technically neutral (Egypt was still a nominally Ottoman province), Egypt declared war against Germany and Austria in 1914 at Britain’s urging. The Cairo government began expelling enemy diplomats, and interned military-eligible enemy nationals. British Foreign Office, Correspondence Respecting Events Leading to the Rupture of Relations with Turkey, London, UK, 1914, pp. 43, 73; McKale, War, p. 71; The Times of London, History of the War, Vol. 3, London, UK, 1915, p. 300; Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall, A History of Events in Egypt from 1798 to 1914, New York, NY, 1915, pp. 139 – 71, 273 – 6. 4. British Foreign Office, pp. 14, 16, 18, 21, 28 – 9, 31, 32. 5. Ibid., pp. 44 – 7. 6. German journalist and Foreign Office (or AA) propagandist Ernst Ja¨ckh, a proponent of German settlement in Ottoman lands, coined an ironic slogan that perfectly captured German imperialist thinking about the Ottoman Empire: “Turkey, the German Egypt”. McKale, War, pp. 1 – 3, 10 –14, 39, 50; Sean McMeekin, The Berlin – Baghdad Express: the Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power, Cambridge, MA, 2010, pp. 23 – 8, 79, 86 – 8, 169. 7. For instance: “Once, I found Sheikh Shawish sitting with Dr Pru¨fer in the latter’s room at the Hotel Germania”, Mors related. “They were copying in Arabic a receipt for making bombs. The paper from which Shaykh Shawish was copying contained directions, a list of the component chemicals, and a sketch of

NOTES

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a bomb in the right-hand bottom corner.” Egyptian ‘Abd al ‘Aziz Shawish (1872–1929) edited the vehemently anti-British Egyptian newspapers Al Hizb Al Watani (The National Party), Al-Liwa’ (The Standard) and its successor, Al ‘Alam (The World), which advocated for pan-Islamic solidarity under Ottoman overlordship. Following expulsion from Egypt for sedition in 1912, he edited the Arabic-language pro-CUP newspapers Al Hilal Al ‘Uthmani (The Ottoman Crescent) and Al Hidayah (Guidance) in Constantinople, and later, Die Islamische Welt (The Islamic World) and its Arabic edition Al ‘Alam Al Islami, published by the AA in Berlin. The outing of Shawish, his German handler – Dr Curt Max Pru¨fer (1881–1959) – and their other accomplices prompted the British government to announce a reward for their capture. British Foreign Office, p. 74; Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., Historical Dictionary of Egypt, Plymouth, UK, 2013, pp. 220–1; McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. xi, 2, 14–24, 185; McKale, War, p. 71; McMeekin, p. 29. McMeekin, p. 108. Mustafa Aksakal, The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War, Cambridge, UK, 2008, p. 93. I.e., the Armenian genocide and the Arab nationalist persecutions. Lawrence’s superstar fame eventually eclipsed the covert exploits of his own allies also. Who here in the West remembers, for instance, Pe`re Antonin Jaussin the French Dominican priest and spy, William Yale the American oilman turned intelligence agent or the NILI spy ring in Palestine?

The Prewar Years 1. Interpreters conversant in eastern languages who were employed by Western diplomats, businessmen and tourists. The word “dragoman” comes from various Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Greek words that all mean “interpreter” or “translator”. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E. Smith, The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia, New York, NY, 1914, Vol. 3, p. 1756. 2. McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 14. 3. NARA, T-120/2539/E309775 (Oct. 24, 1944, Pru¨fer’s AA personnel questionnaire); McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 8, 194. 4. Pru¨fer studied Arabic at the University of Berlin’s Seminar for Oriental Languages, created in 1887 to provide language training to government officials and businessmen working in Asia, Africa and the Near East. He earned his PhD in Arabic studies at the University of Erlangen in 1906 after completing his dissertation, Eine a¨gyptische Schattenspiel (An Egyptian Shadowplay), which examined the Egyptian shadow play tradition. This lowbrow theatrical entertainment form told stories using wooden cutout puppets behind illuminated, translucent fabric screens. Li Guo, The Performing Arts in Medieval Islam: Shadow Play and Popular Poetry in ibn Daniyal’s Mamluk Cairo, Boston, MA, 2012, pp. 105– 7; Ludmila Hanisch, Die Nachfolger der Exegeten: deutschsprachige Erforschung des Vorderen Orient in der ersten Ha¨lfte des 20.

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7.

8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13.

14.

NOTES TO PAGES 4 –5 Jahrhunderts, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2003, p. 201; McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 5, 7 – 8; Curt Pru¨fer, Ein A¨gyptisches Schattenspiel, Erlangen, Germany, 1906; Heinrich Schnee, ed., Deutsches Kolonial Lexikon, Vol. III, 1920, p. 347. On the side, he published articles about Egyptian culture in German newspapers such as Der Tag (The Day) and the Berliner Lokaler Anzeiger (The Berlin Local Advertiser), and cowrote several treatises about medieval Arab ophthalmology with German ophthalmologist Max Meyerhof between 1910 and 1915. McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 14. Orientalist, foreign adventurer and holy war theorist Max, Baron von Oppenheim (1860 – 1946), “Uncle Max” to his lifelong friend Pru¨fer. Oppenheim wrote the seminal treatise on holy-war strategy in October 1914 – Memorandum Concerning the Fomenting of Revolution in the Islamic Areas of Our Enemies – as head of the Nachrichtenstelle fu¨r den Orient (News Bureau for the Orient, or NfO), an organization created within the AA in November 1914 to direct the holy war effort. Lionel Gossman, The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler, Cambridge, UK, 2013, pp. xxxiv, 92; McMeekin, pp. 16 – 23. Shaykh: an honorific term (from Arabic: elder) given to village heads, tribal, political and religious leaders, and learned, venerable persons. P. Bearman, Thomas Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. Van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs, eds, Encyclopedia of Islam, Second Edition, 2012, “Shaykh”, E. Geoffroy, accessed through Brill Online, 18 March 2017. McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 15–20; McMeekin, pp. 26–8; Times, History, Vol. 3, p. 293. An international agreement reserved the library directorship for German orientalists. McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 21 – 4; Times, History, Vol. 3, p. 293. McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 24. Ibid. Oppenheim lobbied the Foreign Office to recruit Pru¨fer, who reported on political developments in Ottoman domains to his old mentor early in the war. Marc Hanisch, Wilfred Loth, Erster Weltkrieg und Dschihad: die Deutschen und die Revolutionierung des Orients, Munich, Germany, 2014, p. 175; McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 25; TPC, 1 August 1914, Pru¨fer to the AA. German foreign policy in the era of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859 – 1941, ruled 1888– 1918) expressed a “radical nationalism . . . reinforced by an imperialist ideology”. Volker Berghahn, Imperial Germany, 1871– 1914: Economy, Culture, Society and Politics, New York, NY, 1994, pp. ix, 1, 4–6, 8, 13, 43–4, 47, 87, 218–19, 258; C. Gauss, The German Kaiser as Shown in His Public Utterances, New York, NY, 1915, pp. 181–3; Stephen Pope, Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, eds, Dictionary of the First World War, Barnsley, UK, 2003, p. 507; Barbara Tuchmann, The Guns of August, New York, NY, 1962, pp. 6–7. The radical Pan-German League – an important representative of this faction – annoyed the German government with its incessant agitations, despite the kaiser’s personal sympathy with their ideas. In his political manifesto of February 1919, Pru¨fer scorned such militarized imperialism as a “symptom of

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national megalomania” and “national arrogance” that refused to acknowledge Germany’s military and political weaknesses. George Griffin, Ernst Ja¨ckh and the Search for German Cultural Hegemony in the Ottoman Empire, Bowling Green, OH, 2009, p. 22, 39; HIA, Curt Max Pru¨fer Papers, Curt Pru¨fer, Wie ich sah den Krieg. Offener Brief eines Deutschen an seine amerikanische Frau. Im Februar 1919, pp. 1a, 3. “Not worth the bones of a Pomeranian grenadier”, as Bismarck famously put it in 1884. Jehuda L. Wallach, ed., Germany and the Middle East: 1835– 1939, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1975, pp. 25 – 8. Niles Stefan Illich, German Imperialism in the Ottoman Empire, A Comparative Study, College Station, TX 2007, pp. 127, 133, 134, 139, 142–3, 148–9, 153. Abdu¨lhamid II (1842– 1918, ruled 1876– 1909). On the second trip, Wilhelm made a triumphal entry on horseback into Jerusalem, and a daring speech in Damascus in which he proclaimed himself protector of the world’s 300 million Muslims. McMeekin, pp. 4, 7 – 16; Selcuk Aksin Somel, Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire, Lanham, MD, 2003, p. 3. The Empire lost 40 percent of its landmass (mostly in the Balkan and Caucasus regions) just in the settlement ending the Russo – Turkish War (1877 – 8). Overall losses from such foreign interventionism between 1878 and 1918 constituted 85 percent of its territory and 75 percent of its population. Taner Akcam, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility, New York, NY, 2007, p. 11; John Patrick Douglas Balfour, Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries, New York, NY, 1977, pp. 483 – 99, 517 – 28, 545 – 9; Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, Philadelphia, PA, 2015, p. 4. McMeekin, p. 11; Akcam, p. 43 – 4, 54. “Henceforth, we are all brothers”, Ismail Enver (1881– 1922), one of the rebel leaders, proclaimed. “There are no longer Bulgars, Greeks, Rumanians, Jews, or Muslims; under the same blue sky we are all equal. We glory in being Ottomans.” Richard C. Hall, ed., War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, p. 102; Kinross, p. 574; Edwin Pears, Life of Abdulhamid, London, UK, 1917, pp. 284– 94. Previous generations of Ottoman leaders utilized various ideologies to try to unite the fracturing empire. Sultan Abdu¨lhamid favored pan-Islamism as an organizing state ideology, while the Young Turk leadership pragmatically used this and Ottomanism, Turkish nationalism, PanTuranism, etc. to communicate different state objectives to the empire’s various subject peoples. Akcam, p. 83. One significant casualty of these disorders was the reign of Abdu¨lhamid, who was caught aiding the counter-revolution of April 1909. The Young Turk regime deposed him, replacing him with his brother, Sultan Res¸at Mehmet V. Akcam, pp. 77 – 9; Kinross, pp. 576– 8, 583– 4, 587– 93. In the Balkan Wars, Ottoman forces suffered 250,000 casualties, and removed 36 infantry divisions and six army corps headquarters from active service, a

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disaster only compounded by catastrophic losses of territory, population and industrial capacity. Edward J. Erickson, Ottoman Army Effectiveness in World War I: A Comparative Study, Oxon, UK, 2007, p. 9; Kinross, pp. 590– 3. Essentially present-day Turkey. Akcam, pp. 48, 50, 53, 75, 77, 87, 92; Collier and Sons, The New Encyclopedic Atlas & Gazeteer of the World, New York, NY, 1918, p. 145. The small, secretive CUP central committee, to which the triumvirs were theoretically accountable, made decisions collectively, issuing directives to the government based on “temporary laws” confirmed by imperial decree and later approved by parliament. M. Talha C¸ic ek, Syria in World War I, Politics, Economy and Society, New York, NY, 2016, pp. 13–14; Carter Vaughn Findley, Turkey, Islam, Nationalism and Modernity, New Haven, CT, 2010, p. 199; Rogan, Fall, p. 22. Enver espoused pan-Turanism, a variant of Turkist ideology advocating the unification of Turkic peoples in the Caucasus, Central Asia and southern Russia into one great Turkish empire. McKale, War, pp. 34, 79, 86, 201–2, 221. Henry Morgenthau, Sr., Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, New York, NY, 1918, pp. 30 – 2. Mehmet Talaat Pasha (1874 – 1921), former Ottoman deputy for Edirne, minister of finance and interior, and finally grand vizier in 1917. Spencer Tucker, Laura Matysek Vood, Justin D. Murphy, eds, The European Powers in the First World War, an Encyclopedia, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 679– 80. Kinross, p. 596. Early in 1915, the Turks initiated mass deportations of Ottoman Armenians from Anatolia into Syria and Mesopotamia, claiming that they represented an internal, fifth-columnist threat to imperial security. Over a million Armenians died en route from exposure to the elements and starvation, or were murdered by Turks and Kurdish tribesmen. The mass expulsion seriously strained the empire’s roads and railways during its critical military mobilization, clogged main commercial transportation routes between Syria and Anatolia and spread disease to Ottoman civilians and soldiers. In addition, the genocide almost completely liquidated a people representing nearly 10 percent of Anatolia’s population, and a huge percentage of the Empire’s skilled labor force. McMeekin, pp. 241–2, 246–58; Graham Pitts, Fallow Fields: Famine and Making of Lebanon, Washington, DC, 2016, pp. 85–6. Ahmet Djemal (1872 – 1922), a career soldier and civil servant before becoming the Ottoman navy minister in February 1914. “Like all leading Young Turks”, a German subordinate said, “Djemal Pasha was neither proGerman or pro-Entente. He was simply a Turk . . . whose goal . . . was to utterly reconquer for his fatherland complete independence.” Djemal’s repressive wartime measures earned him the nickname as-Saffa (Arabic: the blood-shedder). C¸ic ek, Syria, pp. 15, 88; Ahmet Djemal, Memoirs of a Turkish Statesman, New York, NY, 1922, pp. 11, 13, 70, 76, 84; Friedrich, Baron Kress von Kressenstein, Mit den Tu¨rken zum Suezkanal, Berlin, Germany, 1938, p. 73; Tucker, Powers, p. 218.

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32. Aksakal, p. 93; McMeekin, pp. 242– 4; Rogan, Fall, pp. 33 –4. 33. Hans, Baron von Wangenheim (1859– 1915), German ambassador to the Ottoman Empire (1912 –15). Tobias C. Bringmann, Handbuch der Diplomatie 1815– 1963: Auswa¨rtige Missionschefs in Deutschland und deutsche Missionschefs im Ausland von Metternich bis Adenauer, Munich, Germany, 2001, p. 112. 34. General Otto Liman von Sanders (1855 –1929). Spencer C. Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts, eds, The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social and Military History, Santa Barbara, CA, 2005, p. 696. 35. Concerns for the substantial German investments in Ottoman lands also played a significant, if unstated role in German deliberations about the Turkish alliance. Germany’s conflated dual conception of itself as nation and empire made it difficult to separate these two sets of war aims, a confusion reflected in the kaiser’s famous July Crisis marginalia: e.g., his 24 July note to Wangenheim expressing fears of permanently forfeiting German influence in the event that the rebuffed Turks turned to the Entente; his 30 July call for inciting Muslim revolts against Britain (“if we are going to shed our blood, then England must at least lose India.”). Interestingly, Reichschancellor Theobald von BethmannHollweg’s secret statement of war aims, the September Program of 1914, advocated a politico-economic union of Germany, Austria–Hungary and several other European nations that mirrored the Mitteleuropa concept favored by imperialists: a German-dominated Europe controlling eastern trade zones, including those connecting to the Ottoman Empire. Aksakal, pp. 94–6, 98; Fritz Fischer, Germany’s War Aims in the First World War, New York, NY, 1967, pp. 104, 121; Griffin, pp. 34–8; McMeekin, p. 107; Rogan, Fall, p. 40. 36. McMeekin, pp. 107– 12. 37. This, despite the Turks’ publicly declared neutrality. McKale, War, p. 49. 38. Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, The First World War in the Middle East, London, UK, 2014, pp. 6, 21 – 3. 39. Paul, Count von Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht, then German ambassador in London, asserted that “Dr. Pru¨fer was a man of much tact and learning who got on well with Europeans and natives.” Even Hans-Erich von TzschirnerTzschirne, a colleague who harshly criticized Pru¨fer’s abilities as an intelligence chief, described him as “a friendly person who was pleasant to interact with.” Having a “clean-shaven, fine actor’s face” (as Richard Euringer put it) certainly didn’t hurt either. Pru¨fer’s astonishing shape-shifting skills show clearly visible in surviving photographs of him taken throughout his lifetime. Pru¨fer furthermore shared one weakness in common with the fictional superspies of later generations: serial philandering. Family lore reveals numerous extramarital affairs during his marriages to Frances Pinkham and Anneliese Fehrmann. Richard Euringer, Der Zug durch die Wu¨ste, Berlin, Germany, 1938, pp. 43–5; McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 5–6, 22, 81; photos from Trina Prufer Collection (TPC); Hans-Erich Tzschirner-Tzschirne, In der Wu¨ste, Berlin, Germany, 1918, p. 56. 40. Abteilung (Division) IIIB of the Supreme Army Command (OHL), Germany’s intelligence service, only deployed its trained intelligence assets in Europe and

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North America, while the Political Section (Sektion Politik) of IIIB run by Captain Rudolf Nadolny in Berlin provided only limited support and policy direction. The holy war operation in Constantinople itself was, as Ernst Ja¨ckh described it in December 1914, “belated and set up in an improvised manner, because nothing had been prepared in peacetime.” Indeed, Pru¨fer had to cobble together an intelligence organization that utilized Ottoman intelligence organizations throughout the Middle East including the Tes¸kilat-ı Mahsusa (the paramilitary Special Organization, or SO), the Ottoman 4th Army’s intelligence section, Djemal Pasha’s secret police and the regular police; and local volunteers (city Arabs, bedouins and German expatriates). Pru¨fer’s superiors and colleagues mostly praised his intelligence abilities, but German operative Hans-Erich Tzschirner maintained that “instead of creating a large organization reaching towards Arabia and inside Egypt, [he] so utterly failed that the main expedition . . . was not once informed about the distribution of forces of the British and their defenses. [Pru¨fer] . . . was so little equal to his task that a country expert would have believed that he had in conversation a tourist in front of him. He knew only the conditions in the city of Cairo . . . but the entirely different nature of things in Syria and Arabia were not only foreign to him but also the talent of the organization in greater conditions, overview and judgement escaped him.” Howard Blum, Dark Invasion, 1915: Germany’s Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America, New York, NY, 2014, pp. 36– 40; Erhard Geißler, Biologische Waffen Nicht in Hitlers Arsenalen: Biologisiche und ToxinKampfmittel in Deutschland von 1915 bis 1945, Mu¨nster, Germany, 1999, pp. 57– 8; Gossman, p. 354; Jerusalem Quarterly, Summer 2016, Issue 66, Polat Safi, “Mirage in the Sands: the Ottoman Special Organization on the Sinai–Palestine Front”, p. 50; Tzschirner, p. 56. 41. HIA, Offener Brief, pp. 1, 5.

Chapter 1

1914

1. This and all subsequent diary entries come from the Curt Max Pru¨fer Papers at the Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA. 2. Wolfgang Alexander Meyer-Waldeck (1862– 1914), Saxon court dramaturgist and royal privy councillor. Franz Bru¨mmer, Lexikon der deutschen Dichter und Prosaisten vom Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart, Vol. 4, Leipzig, Germany, 1913, pp. 454– 5. 3. Site of a failed French attack covering the British retreat from Mons, France in late August 1914. Ian V. Hogg, The A to Z of World War I, Lanham, MD, 2009, p. 86. 4. Vienna and Budapest: capitals of the dual Austro – Hungarian monarchy. Hutton Webster, European History, Part III: Modern Times, New York, NY, 1919, pp. 589– 90.

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5. Galicia: an Austro – Hungarian province straddling today’s Polish– Ukrainian border. This Austro –Hungarian thrust into Poland was halted by the Russians in September. Ian V. Hogg, The A to Z of World War I, Lanham, MD, 2009, p. 78. 6. Capital of Rumania. Collier and Sons, The New Encyclopedic Atlas & Gazeteer of the World, New York, NY, 1918, p. 163. 7. The German name for Buda, which united with Pest to form Budapest in 1873. Angelo Heilprin, Louis Heilprin, eds, Lippincott’s New Gazetteer, A Complete Pronouncing Gazetteer or Geographical Dictionary of the World, Philadelphia, PA, 1916, p. 290. 8. A former Austro – Hungarian ally, Rumania entered the war as an Entente ally in August 1916. Richard F. Hamilton, Holger H. Herwig, Decisions for War, 1914– 1917, Cambridge, UK, 2004, pp. 174– 7. 9. The Battle of Tannenberg in East Prussia (25 – 31 August 1914), where the Germans crushed Russian forces near Ortelsburg (now Szczytno, Poland). Stefan Goebel, The Great War and Medieval Memory: War, Rembrance and Medievalism in Britain and Germany, 1914– 1940, Canterbury, UK, 2007, p. 128; Hogg, p. 181. 10. Rustchuk, Bulgaria. Collier, p. 235. 11. Designation used by the Austro – Hungarian government and military. 12. Ottoman Greek city where the 1908 revolution started. British, French and Serb forces opened a stationary front here against Bulgaria in 1915– 16. Hogg, pp. 164– 5; John Patrick Douglas Balfour, Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries, New York, NY, 1977, p. 573. 13. Bulgaria entered the war 6 October 1915 on the Central Powers side. Hogg, p. 57. 14. Bulgarian capital. Collier, p. 243. 15. Edirne in Macedonia. Collier, p. 151. 16. Common German shorthand for Constantinople. The city’s strategic location on intersecting land and sea routes made it desirable as a capital for the Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans. In 1914, approximately 650,000 Turks and an equal number of Ottoman Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Arabs and Kurds and European businessmen lived in Constantinople. Eventually, Western governments began sending representatives to safeguard their countrymen’s commercial and diplomatic interests in Constantinople, housing them in embassies along the Grande Rue de Pe´ra that began appearing in the Pera neighborhood above Galata by the nineteenth century. This broad boulevard lined with beautiful public buildings, churches, mosques and academic institutions became a cultural and commercial meeting place for well-to-do Europeans and Ottoman intellectuals. The Germans maintained an embassy near the Grande Rue de Pe´ra, and a summer embassy on the Bosporus shore in Therapia, a district where wealthy merchants and foreign diplomats maintained summer houses. Karl Baedeker, Konstantinopel, Balkanstaaten, Kleinasien Archipel, Cypern: Handbuch fu¨r Reisende, Leipzig, Germany,

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1914, pp. 122– 4, 128, 130, 231; Collier, p. 175; National Geographic, Vol. XXVI, no. 6, December 1914, Washington, DC, H.G. Dwight, “Life in Constantinople,” pp. 523, 527, 531; Philip Mansel, Constantinople, City of the World’s Desire, 1453– 1924, London, UK, 1996, pp. 189– 95, 208, 286– 7. Steam-powered water taxis for short rides across the Bosporus Straits and the Golden Horn estuary. Georgina Mu¨ller, Letters from Constantinople, New York, NY, 1897, p. 7. Dr Theodor Weber, first dragoman at the embassy in Constantinople. Isaiah Friedman, Germany, Turkey and Zionism, 1897– 1918, New Brunswick, NJ, 1998, p. 210. Ferdinand Carl von Stumm (1880 – 1954), embassy secretary. Deutscher Wirtschaftsverlag, Reichshandbuch der deutschen Gesellschaft: Das Handbuch der Perso¨nlichkeiten in Wort und Bild, Vol. 2, Berlin, Germany, 1931, p. 1877. First secretary at the embassy in Constantinople. Friedman, Turkey, p. 214. Arthur von Haas (1877– ?), formerly of Deutsche Bank, which financed large commercial projects like the Anatolian Railway, the Baghdad Railway, and Constantinople’s Haydar Pasha port. A German naval lieutenant during the war, Haas served as an intelligence officer and deputy naval attache´ at the embassy in Constantinople. Deutsche Bank, A.S., A Century of Deutsche Bank in Turkey, Frankfurt, Germany, 2009, pp. 18 –19, 32. German naval officer Hans Humann (1878 –1933) was born and raised in Turkey. The former intelligence officer came to Constantinople as naval attache´ and commander of the ambassadorial yacht, the Lorelei. Through Humann’s friendship with Enver, he became a liaison between the Ottoman war minister and the embassy. The rabidly anti-semitic and expansionist Humann favored the Armenian deportations of 1915. Malte Fuhrmann, Der Traum vom Deutschen Orient: Zwei Deutsche Kolonien im Osmanischen Reich, Frankfurt, Germany, 2006, pp. 37, 88, 92, 361; Isabel V. Hull, Absolute Destruction: Military Culture and the Practices of War in Imperial Germany, Ithaca, NY, 2005, pp. 271, 277. Dragoman and former acting head of the German consulate in Baghdad (1912 – 13). Donald McKale, War by Revolution, Kent, OH, 1998, p. 90; Max Vosberg-Rekow, Asiatisches Jahrbuch, Berlin, Germany, 1913, p. 115. Dr Fritz Scho¨nberg, second dragoman at the embassy. Konrad Morsey, T.E. Lawrence und der Arabische Aufstand, 1916– 1918, Osnabru¨ck, Germany, 1976, p. 27. Major Karl von Laffert, military attache´ at the embassy, recalled in 1915 after clashing with his superior, General von Sanders. Marian Kent, ed., Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire, London, UK, 1996, p. 110. Halil Mentes¸e, president of the Ottoman parliament and later foreign minister, favored the German alliance, as well as intervention in the war. Hamilton, Herwig, pp. 161, 166.

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27. Sa’id Halim Pasha (1865 – 1921), grandson of Muhammad ‘Ali Pasha the first khedive (autonomous Ottoman viceroy) of Egypt, and grand vizier (prime minister) until 1917. Robin Bidwell, Dictionary of Modern Arab History, Oxon, UK, 2010, p. 170; Djemal, Memoirs of a Turkish Statesman, New York, NY, 1922, pp. 39, 130 – 1; Hamilton, Herwig, p. 159; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, New York, NY, 1918, p. 69. 28. The Ottoman 4th Army corps chosen to lead the attack on the Suez Canal. Sean McMeekin, The Berlin – Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power, Cambridge, MA, 2010, p. 169. 29. For weeks after the treaty signing, the kaiser clamored for the Turks to enter the war with a naval attack against Russia in the Black Sea. The Turks instead procrastinated for three months. Mustafa Aksakal, The Ottoman Road to War in 1914: The Ottoman Empire and the First World War, Cambridge, UK, 2008, pp. 151, 157, 165. 30. A 700-man German detachment of sailors and coastal defense experts brought to Constantinople to bolster the Dardanelles defenses. McMeekin, p. 116. 31. Many of Pru¨fer’s collaborators in Constantinople belonged to the Tes¸kilat-ı Mahsusa (Special Organization, or SO), who ran most of the espionage, sabotage and propaganda operations in Sinai and Egypt during preparations for the canal attack. Impressed with its previous performance in Libya and the Balkans, Enver reactivated it in 1914 as a secret organization functioning free of normal legal constraints, and answerable to him alone. Its mission was to counter internal and external security threats by building pan-Islamic solidarity among Muslims abroad and fighting the non-Turkish elements within the Empire through propaganda, fomenting revolution, and guerrilla warfare. The 30,000 men of the Tes¸kilat subsequently saw action in the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Afghanistan, Syria, Arabia and many other places. Akcam, pp. 96 – 7; Mehmet Bes¸ikc i, The Ottoman Mobilization of Manpower in the First World War: Between Voluntarism and Resistance, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2012, pp. 160– 3; Ryan Gingeras, Heroin, Organized Crime and the Making of Modern Turkey, Oxford, UK, 2014, pp. 36 –9; Guenter Lewy, The Armenian Massacres in Ottoman Turkey: a Disputed Genocide, Salt Lake City, UT, 2005, pp. 82 – 8. 32. Colonel Louis Mosel, a German intelligence agent responsible for training Georgian paramilitaries for covert operations in Russian Armenia, possibly part of the SO’s arming of minority groups inside Russia. Taner Akcam, A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility, New York, NY, 2007, p. 159; Wolfgang Gust, The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, New York, NY, 2014, p. 116; Raymond Kevorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History, London, UK, 2011, p. 217. 33. O¨mer Fevzi, a Libyan war veteran. Bey: a Turkish term of address for high government officials, military officers, sons of distinguished persons and

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eminent foreigners. McKale, War, p. 56; William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E. Smith, The Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia, New York, NY, 1914, Vol. 1, p. 540. Abbas Hilmi II (1874– 1944), khedive of Egypt (1892– 1914). The khedive seesawed between supporting Egyptian nationalism early in his reign and willingly cooperating with his British overlords in later years. In late 1914, when wounds received in an assassination attempt forced the khedive to stay in Constantinople, he attempted to ingratiate himself with Turco – German leaders, hoping to exploit the anticipated ejection of the British from Egypt. The British, getting word of the khedive’s machinations, consequently refused to let him return to Egypt. Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., Historical Dictionary of Egypt, Plymouth, UK, 2010, pp. 23 – 5; McKale, War, p. 53. German and Turkish propaganda produced early in the war were of the panIslamist, anti-Entente, nationalist variety, such as in this French-language pamphlet obtained by the American consulate in Damascus in 1915: “O believers! Dear Muslims! . . . You see the enemies of the faith, the English, Russian and French, bully, oppress and weaken the Muslim world . . . Muslims struggle and suffer to acquire what will fulfill their needs . . . Muslims work and Christians eat. Muslims are bustling about, the Christians satisfy their hunger and are content . . . . the Muslim is a slave and the unbeliever is his tyrant ruler. O Muslims! Dear brothers! Is this not shame enough? Stand up! Wake up! . . . The army of the Muslim khalifate is now ready for jihad . . . . The shedding of blood of infidels in Muslim countries has become permitted (trustworthy guests and allies excluded) . . . Each individual Muslim in every place must take responsibility for killing at least three or four unbelieving enemies of God and of faith . . . we stand up as one man, holding the sword in one hand, a gun in the other . . . and we shout: India for the Indian Muslims. . . Algeria for the Algerian Muslims. Morroco for the Moroccans. Tunisia for the Tunisian Muslims. Egypt for the Egyptian Muslims . . . .Turan for the Muslim Turks . . .” NARA, RG84, Entry 306, Vol. 29. Enver Pasha appointed Colonel Su¨leyman Askeri (1884 – 1915) as first head of the SO in 1913. He later led military operations in Mesopotamia, committing suicide in April 1915 after a defeat by British troops at Shaiba, near Basra. Kevorkian, p. 182; Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, Philadelphia, PA, 2015, pp. 124– 7. Mehmet Kazım Orbay (1887– 1964), Enver’s brother-in-law and trusted confidante, later chief of staff of the Turkish army. Yu¨cel Gu¨c lu¨, Historical Archives and the Historians’ Commission to Investigate the Armenian Events of 1915, Lanham, MD, 2015, pp. 104– 5; Andrew Mango, Atatu¨rk, Istanbul, Turkey, 2000, p. 531. Sami Bey, former Ottoman governor of Fezzan, was to gather intelligence in Egypt, travel to Sudan and then incite the Sanussi tribesmen in Libya to

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attack the British in Egypt. The Italians arrested him in Tripoli with Arabiclanguage propaganda leaflets on his person. McKale, War, p. 62. A region in Libya used as a place of exile during Abdu¨lhamid’s reign. Bearman et al., “Fazzan”, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017, available at http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/browse/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2. A region in central Arabia between the Hijaz, Yemen and eastern Arabia populated by a mixture of nomadic bedouins, sedentary townsmen and farmers. Bruce Ingham, Najdi Arabic, Central Arabian, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1994, pp. 1– 4. Foreigners used the name of the ornate high gate at the Ottoman government complex in Constantinople (French: Sublime Porte; Turkish: Bab-ı Ali) as a shorthand term for the government itself. Eugene Rogan, Arabs, A History, New York, NY, 2009, p. 25. A major southern Mesopotamian port city. Collier, p. 158. Al Qunfudha, a small, Arabian coastal town south of Mecca across the Red Sea from Port Sudan. Ibid., p. 145. A local Ottoman official ruling a kaza (sub-district) within a sanjak (district), itself part of a vilayet (province). Whitney, Smith, Vol. 5, p. 3267; Vol. 8, p. 5335; Vol. 10, p. 6754. Arabian Red Sea port city close to Mecca and central ingress point for Muslim pilgrims crossing the Red Sea from Africa. Clifford Edmund Bosworth, Historic Cities of the Islamic World, Leiden, the Netherlands, 2007, pp. 222 – 3. Mehmet Djavid Bey (1875 – 1926), Ottoman finance minister of Do¨nmeh background (descendants of Ottoman Jewish converts to Islam). An opponent of the war, the anglophilic Djavid fought to reduce Enver’s influence in the Ottoman cabinet while seeking to secure favorable terms for neutrality from the Entente powers. Later in 1914, he resigned to protest the German alliance, returning as finance minister again in 1917. Friedman, Turkey, pp. 151 – 2, 286 – 7; McMeekin, pp. 77, 114– 15, 118; Somel, p. 184. Proposed terms in the Entente’s bidding war to secure Ottoman neutrality, which the Turks exploited masterfully until entering the war in November. McMeekin, pp. 109– 16. Russia’s February 1914 “reform” agreement, which was to install a multinational supervisory body to maintain peace between warring Ottoman Kurds and Armenians, which the Turks saw as a figleaf for Russian expansionism. McMeekin, pp. 243– 4. Arabic: prince, tribal chief. Hans Wehr, Milton Cowan, ed., A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Wiesbaden, Germany, 1980, p. 27. Winning the loyalties of Arabia’s tribal leaders was essential to the Turks’ war effort. Though technically Ottoman subjects for centuries, the tribes had grown increasingly independent of Ottoman rule, thanks to Arabia’s remoteness. Additionally, Arabia’s rulers had begun forging friendly relationships with the British. Consequently, the Turks would need to compete strenuously for Arabian sympathies. Two troublesome rivals, the pro-

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52. 53.

54.

55. 56. 57.

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60.

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Turk leader Sa’ud ‘Abd ‘al ‘Aziz ibn Rashid (1900 – 20) and the pro-British ‘Abd al Aziz ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn Sa’ud (1876 – 1953). Despite the intense courting by both sides, Ibn Rashid and Ibn Sa’ud ultimately showed more interest in using great power support to wrest control of the Najd from each other rather than in fighting in the war. Wahhabism was a fundamentalist Islamic sect supported by the Sa’ud dynasty, which eventually made Wahhabi Islam the state religion of Sa’udi Arabia. Winberg Chai, ed., Saudi Arabia, a Modern Reader, Indianapolis, IN, 2005, pp. 2 – 4; M. Talha C¸ic ek, War and State Formation in Syria: Cemal Pasha’s Governate During World War I, 1914 – 1917, New York, NY, 2014, p. 215; James Wynbrandt, A Brief History of Saudi Arabia, New York, NY, 2010, pp. 115, 117, 157 – 72, 182 – 3. Inhabitants of the Maghrib, comprised of the coastal areas and Atlas Mountain chain in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. From Arabic (maghrib): sunset. Bearman et al., “al-Maghrib”, G. Yver, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd Edition, accessed 18 March 2017. I.e., the Libyan war. Muhammad Farid (1868–1919), a pro-Ottoman Turco–Egyptian (descendant of Egypt’s former Turkish ruling class), led the Egyptian National Party from 1908 until 1919. He advocated ending British rule in favor of an Egyptian-led constitutional monarchy under the khedive, a position he argued for vehemently as editor of al Liwa’ newspaper, and as an exile in Geneva from 1912 onwards. Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., Historical Dictionary of Egypt, Plymouth, UK, 2010, p. 146; McKale, War, pp. 53–4. Marquis Eugenio Camillo Garroni (1852 –1935), Italian ambassador to the Porte (1912– 15). Paul Halpern, The Mediterranean Fleet, 1919– 1929, London, UK, 2011, p. 315. U¨sku¨b, Serbia (now Macedonia). Collier, p. 248. Turkish: official residence or mansion. Anthony Dolphin Alderson, Fahir Iz, The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary, Oxford, UK, 1968, p. 197. German diplomat Wilhelm Fabricius (1882– 1964). Winfried Becker, Frederic von Rosenberg (1874 – 1937): Diplomat vom spa¨ten Kaiserreich bis zum Dritten Reich, Aussenminister der Weimarer Republik, Go¨ttingen, Germany, 2011, p. 302. The Petits Champs restaurant and night club in Pera’s Municipal Garden featured rowdy live music and vaudeville stage performances. Foreign journalists, spies and soldiers used it as a meeting place to conduct business during the war. John Reed, The War In Eastern Europe, New York, NY, 1917, pp. 260– 4; Harry Stu¨rmer, Two War Years in Constantinople, New York, NY, 1917, pp. 33, 92. Dr ‘Ahmad Fuad, an Egyptian National Party member in the Turkish Foreign Office’s intelligence department. The Times of London, History of the War, Vol. 3, London, UK, 1915, p. 292. PAAA, R21124, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 2.

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61. Egypt was divided into mudiriehs (districts) under the governance of a mudir (administrator). Karl Baedeker, Egypt and the Sudan, Leipzig, Germany, 1914, p. xlvii. 62. The Tes¸kilat-ı Mahsusa. 63. French: smugglers. J.E. Mansion, ed., Mansion’s Shorter French and English Dictionary, Boston, MA, 1947, p. 139. 64. Arabic: guard, watchman. Village police constituted the backbone of Egypt’s provincial police force. Before the war, the British retrained them as paramilitary forces, stoking Egyptian resentment against them as British collaborators. Martin Thomas, Empires of Intelligence: Security Services and Colonial Disorder after 1914, Berkeley, CA, 2008, pp. 39, 110; Wehr, Cowan, p. 678. 65. Ellipsis occurs in the original. 66. A wealthy Turk presented the government with an Italian-flagged steamship commanded by a Turkish ex-navy officer. This ship, laden with a cargo of cement, was to steam at full speed down the canal and sink itself. British Foreign Office, Correspondence Respecting Events Leading to the Rupture of Relations with Turkey, London, UK, 1914, p. 74. 67. A passenger ship company belonging to Egypt’s nationalized mercantile fleet that plied Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea routes. Don Peretz, The Middle East Today, Binghamton, New York, NY, 1994, pp. 211– 12. 68. I.e., Petit Champs. 69. The main Ottoman depot and support base on the German-built Hijaz Railway in Transjordan north of ‘Aqaba. The Turks built the railway to facilitate Muslim pilgrim traffic going to Mecca, and to project Ottoman military power into the increasingly rebellious Arabian peninsula. It stretched from Damascus to Dera’a in Syria to Mecca, with side lines stretching westward from Dera’a to Haifa, and another one going south from Haifa. Ronald Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn and the Roots of the Arab–Israeli Conflict, New York, NY, 2007, pp. 250, 255; McMeekin, p. 48; Arthur Ruppin, Syria, an Economic Survey, New York, NY, 1918, p. 75. 70. Colonel Friedrich, Baron Kress von Kressenstein (1870 –1948), the Ottoman VIII Army Corps chief of staff for the canal attack. Tucker, Roberts, Encyclopedia, pp. 651– 2. 71. Admiral Wilhelm Souchon (1864– 1946) commanded Germany’s Mediterranean squadron during the pursuit of the Breslau and the Goeben in August. He later assumed command of the Ottoman navy. Spencer, Roberts, Encyclopedia, pp. 1105– 6. 72. These international agreements protected European citizens living and working in Ottoman domains, granted economic rights and privileges, and in legal cases, guaranteed prosecution under their own country’s law rather than Ottoman law. European governments also used the capitulations to justify interference in Ottoman affairs on behalf of persecuted minorities, which the Turks resented as an encroachment on their sovereignty. The public statement

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74.

75. 76.

77.

78.

79.

80.

81.

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celebrating the abolition in Jerusalem exhibited such sentiments when it declared: “Turkey has cast behind her back the shame of foreign bondage, which she had been forced to endure by the European powers for centuries.” Akcam, pp. 25 – 7; Hemda ben Yehuda et al., Jerusalem, Its Redemption and Future: The Great Drama of Deliverance Described by Eyewitnesses, New York, NY, 1918, p. 22; Michael A. Reynolds, Shattering Empires: the Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires, 1908– 1918, Cambridge, UK, 2011, pp. 24 – 5. This Egyptian Red Sea Coast city served pilgrims and merchants as a jumpingoff point westward into central Egypt or eastward towards the Hijaz coast. Bearman et al., “Kusayr”, J.C. Garcin, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. Es-Sallum near the Egyptian– Libyan border, near the scene of future battles between the British and Libyan Sanussi tribesmen (1915 – 16). Rogan, Fall, pp. 239, 241, 252. Muhammad Farid. Ludwig, Count von Spee (1870 – 1950), previously German consul in Belgrade (March – August 1914), subsequently consul in Izmir from January 1916 to January 1917. Rudolf Agstner, Von Kaisern, Konsuln und Kaufleuten, Band 2: Die K.(U.)K. Konsulate in Arabien, Lateinamerika, London und Serbien, Vienna, Austria, 2012, p. 206; Johannes Lepsius, ed., Deutschland und Armenien, 1914– 1918: Sammlung diplomatischer Aktenstu¨cke, Potsdam, Germany, 1919, p. 506. German consul in Haifa and Damascus, Julius Lo¨ytved-Hardegg (1874 – 1917), who was half Danish. Peter Grupp, Maria Keipert, Biographisches Handbuch des deutschen Auswa¨rtigen Dienstes, 1871– 1945, Vol. 3, Berlin, Germany, 2000, p. 117. Wilhelm Wassmuss (1880 –1931), known as “the German Lawrence” and “Wassmuss of Persia”, was German vice consul in the Persian city of Bushehr before the war. In September 1914, Wassmuss came to Constantinople to join Germany’s expedition to Afghanistan. Subsequently, his primary work consisted of inciting Persian tribesmen to fight the British. McKale, War, pp. 80 – 1, 138– 9, 143; McMeekin, pp. 285, 415; Dagobert von Mikusch, Wassmuss, der deutsche Lawrence, Berlin, Germany, 1938, pp. 33 – 8. The Turks planned to send a joint German – Turkish expedition to Afghanistan to induce the Afghan emir Habibullah Khan to attack India, but difficulties in transporting equipment and money through neutral Balkan countries and squabbles among expedition members caused repeated delays. McKale, War, pp. 51 – 2. The city section bounded by the Golden Horn, the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmora, the heart of ancient Constantinople and the old Ottoman capital. Karl Baedeker, Konstantinopel und das westliche Kleinasien: Handbuch fu¨r Reisende, Leipzig, Germany, 1905, pp. 78, 86 – 126. Before the war, British Admiral Arthur Limpus (1863 – 1931), commanded the British naval advisory mission in the Empire and then the Ottoman navy.

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83. 84. 85.

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87.

88.

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Arthur Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: The Road to War 1904– 1914, Annapolis, MD, 2013, pp. 302– 3; Rogan, Fall, p. 37. Wilhelm Schwedler (1873–1936) edited the German newspaper Die a¨gyptischen Nachrichten (The Egyptian News) in Cairo before the war. British authorities shuttered it in August 1914 for “publishing sensational news of alleged German victories”. From November 1915 to May 1916, Schwedler ran the Osmanischer Lloyd (Ottoman Lloyd), a daily newspaper with French and German editions (1908–18). Its editorial policy was largely dictated by the German embassy in Constantinople. Ottoman authorities sacked Schwedler after intercepting a letter he wrote criticizing Ottoman leaders and conditions in the Empire. After the war, Schwedler ran the German news service Transozean GmBH. The Adelaide Advertiser, “Egyptian Newspaper Suppressed”, 17 August 1914, p. 11; The Straits Times, “German Editor Dead”, 15 May 1936, p. 5; Heinrich Klenz, Ku¨rschners deutscher Literatur-Kalender auf das Jahr 1914, Vol. 36, Berlin, Germany, 1914, p. 1636; Irmgard Farah, Die deutsche Pressepolitik und Propagandata¨tigkeit im Osmanischen Reich von 1908–1918 unter besonderer Beru¨cksichtigung des “Osmanischen Lloyd ”, Beirut, Lebanon, 1993, pp. 111–14. Town at the Suez Canal’s southern terminus where it empties out into the Gulf of Suez. Baedeker, Egypt, p. 188. Today’s northern Somalia. Collier, p. 80. Prince Aziz Hassan, an Egyptian royal later expelled from Egypt during mass arrests of known or suspected Turkish and nationalist troublemakers. Hassan was one of the “most active and dangerous supporters” of the Egyptian revolutionary and Wafd Party leader Saad Zaghloul after the war. M. Epstein, ed., The Annual Register for 1921, Vol. 163, London, UK, 1921, p. 299; McKale, War, p. 92. German businessman Georg Riecken owned one of Alexandria, Egypt’s principal cotton export businesses. It appears in a list (dated 17 February 1916) of enemy persons and companies licensed to do business in Egypt for the purpose of liquidation, as does that of Gustav Mez, another of Pru¨fer’s spies. Interestingly, Riecken had made some sort of business agreement with a W. A. Meyer-Waldeck, possibly Wolfgang Alexander Mayer-Waldeck, who knew the spy Robert Mors. Moritz Schanz, Die Baumwolle in A¨gypten und im englisch-a¨gyptischen Sudan, Berlin, Germany, 1913, p. 128; Die Welt des Islams: Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesselschaft fu¨r Islamkunde, Vol. 4, 1916, pp. 269– 70; Board of Trade Journal, Vol. 92, pp. 459– 60; Gazette des Tribunaux Mixtes d’E´gypte, Vol. 5, 1914/15, p. 62. A tribal people inhabiting the mountainous regions at the intersection of present-day Iran, Syria, Iraq and Turkey. Bearman et al., “Kurds, Kurdistan”, Section I and II, Thomas Bois, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. The impending canal attack and German agitations among the Sanussis in Italian-held Libya risked potentially pushing the Italians into the war on the Entente side. McKale, War, p. 56.

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89. Part of a smashing Anglo – French victory against the Germans on the Aisne River in France. David F. Burg, L. Edward Purcell, Almanac of World War One, Lexington, Kentucky, 1998, p. 26. 90. Japan fought the Germans alongside the British on China’s Shantung Peninsula in September 1914. These are the terms of the Anglo – Japanese alliance being discussed. Tucker, Roberts, Encyclopedia, pp. 953– 4. 91. Wassmuss’ friend Kurt Wustrow (1878 – 1920) served as German consul in the Persian cities of Shiraz (1915) and Tabriz (1918 – 20). C.J. Edmonds, East and West of Zagros: Travel, War and Politics in Persia and Iraq, 1913– 1921, Leiden, the Netherlands, 2010, p. 366. 92. The time had come to head into the field, starting with a run from Constantinople to Konya on the old German-built Anatolian Railway, by then incorporated into the Baghdad Railway. Construction nightmares in the Taurus Mountains of southeastern Turkey delayed completion of the Baghdad Railway for years, and near the end of the war, the railway company was still blasting tunnels. Kress afterwards asserted that the lack of a finished railway system massively hindered the Ottoman war effort, and that its completion could have changed the course of the war. Karl Baedeker, Pala¨stina und Syrien: nebst den Hauptrouten durch Mesopotamien und Babylonien, Leipzig, Germany, 1904, p. 350; Friedrich, Baron Kress von Kressenstein, Mit den Tu¨rken zum Suezkanal, Berlin, Germany, 1938, pp. 29–30; McMeekin, pp. 35–53, 238–41. 93. A town in central Anatolia. Collier, p. 145. 94. Captain Wilhelm von dem Hagen, a German infantry instructor in the Ottoman army. Hans-Erich Tzschirner, In der Wu¨ste, Berlin, Germany, 1918, pp. 70 – 1. 95. Captain Kurt Sterke, Kress’ administrative officer and quartermaster secretary. Kress, p. 28. 96. Former office administration officer Lieutenant Wagner. Ibid. 97. Field artillery officer Lieutenant Erich Heiden. Ibid. 98. General Passelt, commander of the military garrison in Erzurum, Turkey resigned his commission in March 1915 after learning of the impending Armenian deportation. James Bryce, The Treatment of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire: Documents Presented to Viscount Fallodon, Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, 2008, p. 246. 99. Naval Lieutenant Fritz Hilgendorff (1883–1915), formerly of the Goeben, hatched a scheme to penetrate Sinai with a group of Palestine Germans disguised as an Arab comedy troupe, cross the Sinai desert, and then block the canal by hijacking a passing ship and running it aground. Vigilant Ottoman police at the border town of Hafir al ‘Awja detained Hilgendorff and his men after the British complained to the Turks. Benjamin Fortna asserts that Hilgendorff and his team operated under the command of SO leader Es¸ref Kus¸cubas¸ı, but Kus¸cubas¸ı’s men seemed to all be from the Muslim of various eastern nationalities, not Germans. Benjamin Fortna, The Circassian: A Life of Es¸ref Bey, Late Ottoman Insurgent and Special Agent, New York, NY, 2016, p. 152; McKale, War, pp. 63–4.

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100. A Turkish city in the northern Taurus Mountains. Collier, p. 145. 101. The Taurus Mountains in south-central Anatolia, the chief barrier separating Turkey and Syria. Kress, p. 29. 102. This town south of Pozantı became the Baghdad Railway’s Taurus tunnel construction headquarters. Travelers had to detrain and cross over the Taurus by horse-drawn wagon on this route to reach the nearest railhead on the other side. Grigoris Balakian, Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915– 18, New York, NY, 2009, p. 318; Kress, p. 29. 103. One of five stations the Germans established for managing tunnel construction. Balakian, p. 317. 104. Village at the end of the railway line in 1914. Ibid., p. 331. 105. An eastern border town the Turks used as a major rear area during their 1914– 15 winter offensive against the Russians, and then as a major deportation center during the Armenian genocide in 1915. Kevorkian, pp. 289– 317. 106. An ancient road from the Anatolian Plateau crosses over the Taurus at the Cilician Gates, a pass ten miles south of Pozantı, then descends to the Cilician plain and the Mediterranean Sea. Merchants, travelers and invading armies used this pass for millennia to travel between Anatolia and Syria. Ironically, the invading Arabs called it “the Gate of Holy War”. W.J. Childs, Across Asia Minor on Foot, New York, NY, 1917, pp. 270, 301– 3, 319. 107. A village near the pass. Ibid., pp. 133–8. 108. The first train station south of the Taurus. Ibid., pp. 316, 330. 109. This south-central Anatolian coastal city experienced Armenian massacres in 1909 and 1915. Djemal Pasha was sent there as governor in 1909 to restore order, which he accomplished by executing several Muslim perpetrators and rebuilding ruined homes and buildings. C¸ic ek, War, pp. 5 – 6; Kevorkian, pp. 593 –604. 110. Dr Eugen Bu¨ge (1859 – 1936), German consul in Adana. Bu¨ge protested to his superiors about the Armenian genocide, which he labeled “barbaric”. Jakob Eisler, Der deutsche Beitrag zum Aufstieg Jaffas, 1850– 1914: zur Geschichte Pala¨stinas im 19. Jahrhundert, Wiesbaden, Germany, 1997, p. 135; Gust, p. 86. 111. Port city for Aleppo on north-west Syria’s Mediterranean coast at the foot of the Amanus Mountains. Childs, p. 7; David Dean Commins, David W. Lesch, Historical Dictionary of Syria, Plymouth, UK, 2014, p. 35. 112. Arabic: inn, caravansary. Wehr, Cowan, p. 224. 113. The Syrian Gates are a pass over the Amanus Mountains in south-central Turkey near Syria. Beilan is a mountain village northwards and uphill from the pass. Kirik Khan and El Hammam are villages on the eastern slopes of the Amanus. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, pp. 321– 2; Childs, p. 442. 114. ‘Afrin is a village on the ‘Afrin River north of Aleppo. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, p. 322. 115. A transit camp for Armenian deportees later stood near this rail station between the Amanus and Aleppo. M. Talha C¸ic ek, Syria in World War I, Politics, Economy and Society, New York, NY, 2016, pp. 189, 191, 192.

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116. Aleppo with its massive stone citadel and vaulted bazaars was Syria’s most important commercial center for centuries. During the war, it became a major rear-area supply center for the fronts in Mesopotamia, Persia and Sinai, and a magnet for adventuresome German posers pretending to be on secret missions. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, pp. 331–4; Childs, pp. 415– 18, Tzschirner, p. 44. 117. Walter Ro¨ssler, German consul at Aleppo, witnessed Armenian massacres, insistently besieging his superiors with protests about it. Akcam, pp. 121, 145, 161, 180, 201. 118. Palestinian city on the Mediterranean coast below Mount Carmel. Haifa grew after the arrival of Europeans like the German Templer colonists who settled there in 1868, and the connection of Haifa to the Hijaz Railway in 1905. Mahmoud Yazbak, Haifa in the Late Ottoman Period, 1864 – 1914: A Muslim Town in Transition, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1998, pp. 222 – 9. 119. Ottoman Greek Nikolas Mavrokordato, head engineer supervising the Taurus tunnel construction, and Leutenegger’s boss. Balakian, p. 317– 18; Cezmi Yurtsever, Toroslarda go¨ru¨s¸u¨ru¨z!: Karaisalı, Aladag˘lar, Pozantı ve Gu¨lek’ten tarih seslenirse, Adana, Turkey, 2008, p. 171. 120. Syrian city south-east of Aleppo. Collier, p. 189. 121. The ancient Syrian city of Damascus sits between the Anti-Lebanon Mountains to the west and deserts to the north and east. For generations of travelers, it became, in Hans-Erich Tzschirner’s words, “the endpoint of great caravan roads through endless deserts and steppes . . . [that fulfilled] longings for spring airs, the fragrance of flowers, a glimpse of streams, of green. . .” Damascus’ climate and location on trade and pilgrimage routes made it desirable as a capital for the Muslim ‘Umayyad khalifs and the Turks. Because “its fresh and turbulent citizens, always willing to strike, were as extreme in thought and word as in pleasure”, as T.E. Lawrence put it, underground Arab nationalists, as well as Ottoman military leaders and propagandandists also found the city a congenial gathering place. T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York, NY, 1935, p. 334; McMeekin pp. 88, 93, 141; Tzschirner, p. 50. 122. Shaykh ‘As’ad ash-Shuqayri, Ottoman Palestinian deputy from ‘Akka, 4th Army mufti, and previously deputy governor of Tiberias, governor of Jerusalem and imperial librarian at Yıldız Palace in Constantinople. Throughout Syria, Lebanon and Palestine in this period, political and religious power traditionally rested in the hands of wealthy families, ‘a’yan, or notables, like ash-Shuqayri. They owed their rise to power to the Turks, who relied on them as intermediaries to help control the Arab population. Consequently, many ‘a’yan – aware of their dependence on their Turkish overlords – adopted staunchly pro-Ottoman sympathies to buttress their position and status in Arab society, making them excellent spokesmen and military recruiters for the Ottoman war effort. Michelle Campos, Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine, Stanford, CA, 2011, p. 142; Walid Khalidi, Before Their Diaspora: a Photographic History of the Palestinians, 1876–1948,

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124. 125. 126.

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Washington, DC, 2004, p. 75; McKale, War, p. 59; Journal for Palestine Studies, 2011, issue 47, Salim Tamari, “Shifting Ottoman Conceptions of Palestine, Part 1: Filistin Risalesi and the Two Jamals”, p. 28; Dror Ze’evi, An Ottoman Century: the District of Jerusalem in the 1600s, Albany, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 64–6. Field Marshal Mehmet Zeki Baraz (1862– 1943), governor of Syria and commander of the 4th Army, was replaced by Djemal Pasha when he left in November for Berlin to serve as the sultan’s personal liaison to the kaiser. Kress, p. 33; Richard C. Hall, ed., War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, p. 218. Governor of a vilayet. Whitney, Smith, Vol. 10, p. 7103. Governor of Syria until late 1915, and a frequent critic of Djemal’s methods, including his propaganda campaigns. C¸ic ek, Syria, pp. 21– 3, 33. The family of Ottoman deputy ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha al Yusuf, who were wealthy livestock merchants, formed a power triumvirate in Damascus with the al ‘Abd and al ‘Azm families. During preparations for the canal expedition, Enver Pasha sent him to recruit bedouin auxiliary corps fighters from among the Kurds. ‘Abd ar-Rahman had attacked the Laamarkaziyeh (Arabic: decentralization), or Arab nationalist party, as being agents of European powers. Djemal, p. 137; Philip S. Khoury, Urban Notables and Arab Nationalism: The Politics of Damascus, 1860–1920, Cambridge, UK, 1983, pp. 39 – 40, 49, 124; Hasan Kayalı, Arabs and Young Turks: Ottomanism, Arabism and Islamism in the Ottoman Empire, 1908– 1918, Berkeley, CA, 1997, p. 104; Muhammad Y. Muslih, The Origins of Palestinian Nationalism, New York, NY, 1988, p. 64. A strategically important, Turkish-held port city at the northernmost point of the Gulf of ‘Aqaba in Transjordan. On 6 July 1917, Faysal ibn Husayn and T.E. Lawrence’s Arab army captured ‘Aqaba to neutralize its threat to British operations in Palestine, securing a forward supply base. Florence, pp. 199, 261. The sharifs (Arabic: noble ones) were descendants of the prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hassan, and in Ottoman times, rulers and caretakers of the holy Islamic cities Mecca and Medina. After the 1908 revolution, Sultan Abdu¨lhamid II appointed Husayn ibn ‘Ali (1853–1931) sharif, making him second in religious authority only to the Ottoman sultan in his capacity as khalif (successor to the prophet Muhammad as leader of the global Muslim community). Husayn’s participation in the holy war campaign was greatly desirable, given his symbolic religious and political importance in the Muslim world. In 1914, though, Turkish attempts to strengthen central government power over the Hijaz provoked Husayn to contemplate rebellion. He had already begun approaching the British for potential support, interactions that increased over the coming months, a fact not unnoticed by the Turks. Stephen Pope, Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, eds, Dictionary of the First World War, Barnsley, UK, 2003, p. 234; Rogan, Fall, p. 275–85; Wehr, Cowan, p. 476.

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129. Greater Syria’s chief seaport and current capital of Lebanon, Beirut became a chief meeting place for Arabs and westerners, especially after its Christian population grew following violent disturbances in the nineteenth century. Bearman et al., “Bayrut,” N. Elise´eff, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. 130. Gerhard von Mutius, German consul in Beirut (1912 – 18). Lepsius, p. 504; McKale, War, p. 204. 131. Sami fiercely opposed the Armenian deportations of 1915. C¸ic ek, War, pp. 115, 132. 132. In the nineteenth century, the Turks resettled Circassians from the northern Caucasus to Turkey, Syria, Transjordan and Palestine. Circassian resettlees often served as policemen and guards because of their fearsome reputation as fighters and fierce loyalty to the Ottoman state. British Naval Intelligence Division, A Handbook of Syria, Including Palestine, London, UK, 1920, pp. 191, 606; David Grossman, Rural Arab Demography and Early Jewish Settlement in Palestine, Jerusalem, Israel, 2011, p. 67. 133. French: You are cordially detested here. 134. Shakib ‘Arslan (1869 – 1946), a Lebanese Druze poet, historian and Ottoman deputy who passionately advocated for pan-Islamic unity within a strengthened Ottoman Empire as the surest defense against European domination. William L. Cleveland, Islam against the West: Shakib Arslan and the Campaign for Islamic Nationalism, 1985, Austin, TX, pp. xiii – xix. 135. The Druze mix if ‘Isma’ili Shiite and Gnostic beliefs brought them into conflict with their Sunni Muslim and Christian neighbors in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and Transjordan. Bearman et al., “Duruz,” M.G.S. Hodgson, M.C. S¸ehabeddin Tekindag˘, M. Tayyib Go¨kbilgin, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd Edition, accessed 18 March 2017. 136. Damascene Arab ‘Ahmad ‘Izzat al ‘Abid (1851– 1924), Abdu¨lhamid’s secretary and confidant. ‘Izzat was credited with the idea of building the Hijaz Railway, and influenced the sultan’s adoption of pro-German and pan-Islamist views. He fled Constantinople after Abdu¨lhamid’s deposition in 1908. Commins, Lesch, p. 24. 137. During the first Balkan War, the Turks halted the Balkan League onslaught at Chatalja, the defensive line west of Constantinople. Abuk Ahmet Pasha, commander of Ottoman defenses at Chatalja, later joined a 1913 conspiracy to overthrow the Young Turk government. Djemal, pp. 9, 14, 19 – 24; Hall, pp. 68 – 9. 138. The Christian Sursuq family made their fortune through money-lending and silk production. When Djemal delegated the coordination of grain importation to Beirut and the Mount Lebanon region to Michel Sursuq and his cousins Michel Musa Sursuq and Alfred Sursuq, they made a killing through hoarding and price speculation. Graham Pitts, Fallow Fields: Famine and Making of Lebanon, Washington, DC, 2016, pp. 28, 121, 124, 127, 128, 130.

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139. Sami was later dismissed because of extortion and gambling. C¸ic ek, War, p. 23. 140. A 4th Army corps composed of Mesopotamian Arab levies from Mosul. Edward J. Erickson, Ottoman Army Effectiveness in World War I: A Comparative Study, Oxon, UK, 2007, pp. 63, 102, 185. 141. Mesopotamian city across the Tigris River from ancient Nineveh, and seat of an Ottoman vilayet. Bearman et al., “al Mawsil”, P. Sluglett, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. ¨ mer Fahrettin Tu¨rkkan (1868 – 1948), who later commanded the 142. General O Turkish garrison at Medina in the Hijaz during the Arab Revolt, the so-called “Tiger of the Desert”. James Barr, Setting the Desert on Fire: T.E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia, 1916– 1918, New York, NY, 2008, p. vii; Djemal, pp. 169, 170; Middle East Studies, S. Tanvir Wasti, “The Defense of Medina, 1916– 1919”, Vol. 27, No. 4 (October 1991), p. 642. 143. A mountain town in central Lebanon’s Biqaa’ Valley. Collier, p. 146. 144. A theologian authorized to make authoritative doctrinal rulings on Islamic traditions, promulgated through public declarations and privately delivered opinions, or fatwas. Bearman et al., “Fatwa”, E. Tyan, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. 145. Palestinian nationalist Muhammad Murad. May Seikaly, Haifa: Transformation of an Arab Society 1918– 1939, London, UK, 2002, pp. 160– 2, 189. 146. Izmitli Mu¨mtaz, an SO member and personal adjutant of Enver’s who was appointed head of the Turks’ Bedouin Command on 9 September. He was recruiting bedouin fighters for the upcoming canal campaign. Fortna, p. 130; Kress, pp. 54 – 5; Jerusalem Quarterly, Summer 2016, Issue 66, Polat Safi, “Mirage in the Sands: The Ottoman Special Organization on the Sinai – Palestine Front”, p. 42. 147. Kress’ interpreter and trusted adjutant, Turkish captain Ekrem Bey. According to Kress, Arabic and Turkish were difficult languages to learn, plus the Germans’ military duties hardly allowed them the time to learn it. The inadequate mastery of Turkish and Arabic by German officers led to frequent misunderstandings with their Ottoman collaborators, many of whom could only communicate with the Germans in French. Kress, pp. 28 – 9. 148. Karl Schieffer, Deutsche Pala¨stina Bank director and former consular administrator in Damascus. C¸ic ek, War, p. 151. 149. In August, controversy erupted when this commercial German steamship delivered 500 tons of dynamite to the Turkish government for transport further into Syria for unspecified military uses. The ship was scuttled off Beirut in December 1914. London Standard, 2 September 1914, p. 6; The Times of London, Documentary History of the War, Vol. VIII, London, UK, 1919, p. 345. 150. While in Jerusalem, Hilgendorff lived lavishly on the German government’s dime. The brash Hilgendorff actually dared to tell the German consuls in Palestine that not only would their demands for reimbursement thwart his

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mission, but “they would seriously sin against the Fatherland if they required it of him”. Apparently, the consuls were trying to stick Kress with Hilgendorff’s bills. Kress, p. 55. The previous month, parliamentary vice president Emir ‘Ali Pasha, ‘Abd ar-Rahman and Zeki Pasha visited the Druze in Hauran, Dera’a and Ma’an to recruit them for the holy war. ‘Ali, who was later exiled, was the son of ‘Abd al Qadir Muhiyi ad-Din al Jaza’iri, the famed nineteenth-century Algerian revolutionary who was exiled to Syria. By 1914, Damascus’ Algerian exile community – led by ‘Ali and his sons Emir Muhammad Sa’id and Emir ‘Ali – numbered 15,000, constituting a major political power bloc in the city. The two grandsons were exiled to Turkey later for suspected pro-French sympathies. Another grandson, ‘Omar, was later hanged as an Arab nationalist by Djemal Pasha. The notoriously reckless Emir ‘Ali joined the Arab revolt, then switched sides again. Emir Sai’d was allowed to return to Damascus, and served as the Turks’ peace emissary to Emir Faysal in August 1918. In September 1918, the brothers attempted to seize power in Damascus after the collapse of Turkish power, but eventually submitted to the leadership of Emir Faysal and T.E. Lawrence. Ali A. Allawi, Faisal I of Iraq, New Haven, CT, 2014, pp. 131, 138–9; C¸ic ek, War, pp. 63, 209; Lawrence, p. 645. The son, Emir Muhammad Sa’id. Pro-Ottoman Nablus in Palestine was an active trading and manufacturing center producing cotton, olive oil and soap, and maintaining commercial connections to Syria and Egypt. Paul F. Horton, A Land with a People: The Political Economy of Jerusalem and Nablus in the Nineteenth Century, 1989, Burnaby, BC, pp. x, 29; Tamari, p. 28. German civilians from the network of seven agricultural settlements established in Palestine between 1868 and 1907 by a Christian sect, the Templers (combined population 2,200 in 1914). Palestine German Fritz Frank (1873 – 1968) was from Sarona, a wine-producing settlement built in what is now Tel Aviv in 1871. After the German army rejected him for military service because of age, he volunteered to scout for water sources in Sinai for the canal expedition, and advised Kress on favorable routes of advance through southern Palestine. During and after the war, rumors concerning Frank’s daring and entirely fictional exploits behind British lines in a British officer’s uniform earned him the title “the German Lawrence”. According to Kress, Frank didn’t and couldn’t have served as a spy, since he spoke no English. From the beginning, such patriotic Palestine Germans eagerly put their skills and their knowledge of Arabic, the country and its people at the German army’s disposal, even though the German government made no efforts to formally mobilize them. Kress later wrote that the war effort would have been impossible without their moral and practical support. Bulletin of the Anglo –Israel Archaeological Society, Vol. 6, 2004, Gideon Haas, “Fritz Frank: a Templer, Surveyor of the Arava Valley and Cucumber Grower in ‘Ain Gedi, Israel”, pp. 77 – 80; Kress, pp. 66 – 7, 150; Ferdinand Tuohy, The Secret Corps:

NOTES TO PAGES 25 –27

155.

156.

157. 158.

159.

160.

161.

162.

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a Tale of “Intelligence” on All Fronts, New York, NY, 1920, pp. 176–7; Jehuda L. Wallach, ed., Germany and the Middle East: 1835– 1939, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1975, pp. 45 – 8. The ancient Nabatean capital city sculpted out of rose-colored cliffs in southwestern Transjordan. The three men were scouting land routes to Sinai around the nearby strategic rail center of Ma’an. Bearman et al., “Nabat”, D.F. Graf, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. General Suleyman Faik Pasha (1876 –1916) commanded the Ottoman II Corps at Gallipoli in 1915, and was killed in combat in the Caucasus in 1916. Edward J. Erickson, Gallipoli, the Ottoman Campaign, Barnsley, UK, 2010, pp. 45, 114. A Baghdad Railway engineer. Gust, pp. 28, 47, 70. Over the centuries, the Turks discovered that sponsoring the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (the hajj) seemed a good way to demonstrate their right to rule their Arab subjects. The al Midan neighborhood, with its railway station, was a major assembly point for festive jumping-off ceremonies given for departing pilgrims. Ross Burns, Damascus, A History, New York, NY, 2007, pp. 227– 8. Activists advocating Arab autonomy under Ottoman overlordship founded the Ottoman Administrative Decentralization Party (Hizb al Laamarkaziyya al ‘Idariyyaha al ‘Uthmaniyya) in Cairo in 1912. Many Levantine notables supported it. Others opposed it as a threat to their power and status, publicly accusing the movement of colluding with European powers to dismember the Empire. Nationalists in Beirut and Basra openly formed local organizations with platforms similar to that of the Cairo group. In response, the government ordered the Beirut organization be shut down in April 1913. The result was a general strike in Beirut, and eventually street riots, during which the vali of Beirut jailed several activists. Intervention by the British consul restored peace. Khoury, pp. 62–4; Eliezer Tauber, The Arab Movements in World War I, Oxon, UK, 2013, pp. 5–6. Either the Nis¸an-ı I˙ftihar medal (Order of Glory, typically awarded to highranking Ottoman persons) or the I˙ftihar Sanayı (awarded for achievement in the arts and sciences), odd choices for such characters, but the unmerited distribution of such decorations was not unknown in the Empire. Edhem Eldem, Pride and Privilege: A History of Ottoman Orders, Medals and Decorations, Istanbul, Turkey, 2004, pp. 110– 18, 355– 6. Excavations at the Dome of the Rock area in Jerusalem by British archaeologists in 1910 provoked a massive public outcry among Muslims, feeding charges that Zionist sympathies among Ottoman government officials, especially Talaat, were unduly influencing Palestine policy. Ilan Pappe, The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian Dynasty: the Husaynis, 1700– 1948, London, UK, 2011, p. 142. The French built Port Sa’id at the Suez Canal’s northern terminus in 1859. It became Egypt’s second largest port and a major British military base by

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164. 165.

166.

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168. 169. 170. 171. 172.

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1914. Marshall Cavendish, World and its Peoples, Vol. 1, Tarrytown, New York, NY, 2007, p. 1130. Despite false rumors about clashes in the Anglo– Egyptian Sudan throughout fall 1914, the British governor-general of Sudan, Sir Reginald Wingate, kept Sudan quiet until minor uprisings began in 1915 and 1916. M.W. Daly, The Sirdar: Sir Reginald Wingate and the British Empire in the Middle East, Philadelphia, PA, 1997, pp. 203– 10; Gabriel Warburg, Islamism, Sectarianism and Politics in the Sudan Since the Mahdiyya, Madison, WI, 2003, pp. 77 – 8. This French-language news agency, subsidized by the Ottoman government, published official news and communique´s. Farah, p. 73. A resort spot for wealthy westerners built on Mount Carmel in the 1880s by Haifa’s German Templer community. Alex Carmel, Ottoman Haifa: A History of Four Centuries Under Turkish Rule, London, UK, 2011, pp. 107–8. In August, 1914, German Arabist and former khedivial library director Bernhard Moritz traveled to Arabia and Sinai to gather intelligence on English troop dispositions, travel routes and water sources in Sinai, bedouin attitudes and camel supply. In the fall, he was ordered to establish a propaganda center in Medina, then proceed to the Sudan to gather intelligence and incite revolt. He eventually deemed the Medina mission a waste of time, since he deemed an Egyptian revolt unlikely, and the Arab world unresponsive to Turkish propaganda. Moritz went to the Sudan instead. McKale, War, pp. 62 – 3; McMeekin, pp. 29, 88, 96 –7. An Austrian merchant shipping line, one of the largest in the world in 1914. Wilhelm M. Donko, A Brief History of the Austrian Navy, Berlin, Germany, 2012, pp. 66 – 7. A hand-drawn sketch of the mine appears in Pru¨fer’s diary here. Turkish: mister (especially when referring to members of the bourgeoisie). Whitney, Smith, Vol. 3, p. 1849. An important road and rail junction town in northern Palestine. Ruppin, Syria, pp. 74 – 5 Another junction town on important rail and auto routes about 30 miles south of Afuleh. Ibid., pp. 74 – 6. A politically powerful family of rural land owners and soap manufacturers with divided loyalties. Muhammad ‘Amin ‘Abd al Hadi served as an Ottoman deputy for Nablus (1914 – 19), while his brother ‘Awni ‘Abd al Hadi (1889 – 1970) was a co-founder of the secret Arab nationalist organization al ‘Arabiya al Fata in 1911, a convert to the Laamarkaziya movement, and later wartime secretary to Faysal ibn Husayn. Salim al ‘Ahmad ‘Abd al Hadi, ‘Amin’s brother, was hanged by Djemal Pasha for treason. Bidwell, p. 3; Carter Vaughn Findley, Ottoman Civil Officialdom, a Social History, Princeton, NJ, 2014, p. 247; Horton, pp. 10 – 11, 21, 26, 56, 59; Ghada Hashem Talhami, Syria and the Palestinians: The Clash of Nationalisms, Gainesville, FL, 2001, pp. 5 – 6.

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173. Patriarch of the once powerful rural al Qasim family, political allies of the ‘Abd al Hadis in nineteenth century Nablus. Abdelaziz A. Ayyad, Arab Nationalism and the Palestinians, 1850– 1939, Jerusalem, Israel, 1999, p. 43; Horton, pp. 16, 18. 174. The Turks expanded the rail system in Palestine through these two towns near Nablus before and during the war. James Nicholson, The Hejaz Railway, London, UK, 2005, p. 57. 175. Deutsche Pala¨stina Bank, first German bank in the eastern Mediterranean, appeared in 1899 with branches in several Levantine cities before merging with Deutsche Orient Bank in 1914. V. Necla Geyikdagi, Foreign Investment in the Ottoman Empire: International Trade and Relations, London, UK, 2011, pp. 102 –3. 176. Besieged Anglo – Belgian forces defending Antwerp surrendered to the Germans 10 October. Tucker, Powers, p. 585. 177. King Carol I (1839 – 1914). Spencer C. Tucker, ed., World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection, Vol. I, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, p. 350. 178. Arabic: Muslim pilgrim. Wehr, Cowan, p. 184. 179. A local member of the Laamarkaziyeh party in Nablus. Muslih, p. 63. 180. Arabic: mayor. Wehr, Cowan, p. 367. 181. Another Laamarkaziyeh member in Nablus. Hammad later received the death penalty in absentia from Djemal Pasha in the Arab persecutions of 1915– 16. Muslih, p. 63; Talhami, p. 5. 182. The Samaritans, a once populous people of mixed Assyrian and Hebrew heritage in central and northern Israel had by 1914 shrunk to a remnant living in a village atop Mount Gerizim above Nablus. Two biblical sites, the well said to be maintained by the biblical patriarch Jacob and a stone outcropping on Mount Gerizim from which Jotham, son of the biblical hero Gideon, delivered a famous speech were nearby. Henry Sykes, A Soldier’s Handbook. Jerusalem and Palestine, London, UK, 1917, pp. 18, 45, 53. 183. ‘Abd al Fattah Touqan and his brother Hafiz established a family-run soap factory in Nablus in 1910. Tharawat Magazine, Vol. 10, April – June 2011, “The Toukan Enterprise: The Business of Soap.” 184. Touqan was offering the Germans access to the Nablus soap merchants’ commercial networks connecting them with retailers in Egypt and Syria. Horton, p. 73. 185. Zionist colonists from Zichron Ya’aqov next to the Arab village of Samarin south of Haifa later spied for the British, starting in 1916. Florence, pp. 32, 34 – 7. 186. The massive twelfth-century fortress built by Salah ad-Din al ‘Ayyubi. Later, it housed British army headquarters in Egypt (1882– 1946), a military jail and a hospital. Graham Wilson, Accommodating the King’s Hard Bargain: Military Detention in the Australian Army, 1914– 1947, Newport, Australia, 2016, pp. 535– 8.

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187. The same Khedivial Mail passenger and freight steamship Robert Mors took to Alexandria. The Near East, Vol. 10, No. 242, 24 December 1915, p. 221; British Foreign Office, p. 44. 188. La Bourse E´gyptienne, a daily French-language newspaper in Egypt reporting on financial and political news. Goldschmidt, Historical, p. 334. 189. Coastal ‘Akka, ten miles north of Haifa, to which it was linked by a stretch of the Hijaz Railway. Bearman et al., “’Akka,” F. Buhl, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017; Ruppin, Syria, p. 75. 190. Tawfiq ‘Abd ‘Allah, president of the local Young Turk committee in ‘Akka, and a friend of Shuqayri’s. Middle East Studies, Vol. 4, No. 3, April 1968, Yaacov Ro’i, “The Zionist Attitude Towards the Arabs,” p. 228. 191. Tripoli, Lebanon. Bearman et al., “Tarabulus (or Atrabulus) al-Sham”, M. Lavergne, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. 192. Urgu¨plu¨ Mustafa Hayri Effendi, the S¸eyhu¨lislam (1914– 16). As the highestranking Islamic official in the Ottoman Empire equal in rank to the grand vizier, he answered directly to the sultan. Amit Bein, Ottoman Ulema, Turkish Republic: Agents of Change and Guardians of Tradition, 2011, Stanford, CA, pp. 4, 44, 47. 193. Dr Gottlieb Schumacher (1857 –1925), an Arabic-speaking Palestine German from Haifa’s Templer colony. A civil engineer, architect and archaeologist, Schumacher volunteered his expertise in devising a water supply system for the men and beasts of the canal expedition. Kress, pp. 61 – 2; Robert North, Stratigraphia Geobiblica: Biblical Near East Archaeology and Geography, 3rd Edition, Rome, Italy, 1970, p. 130. 194. Alfons Finkelstein, first director of the Technion in Haifa, a science and engineering school and one of Palestine’s first universities, founded in 1912. Torsten Harmsen, Berliner Zeitung, 25 March 2000, “Ru¨ckkehr aus Altneuland.” 195. A mountain village near the Jerusalem – Nablus road. Antonio de la Cierva Lewita, Conde de Ballobar, Roberto Mazza, Jerusalem in World War I: The Palestine Diary of a European Diplomat, London, UK, 2010, pp. 212, 214. 196. As the holy city of Jews, Christians and Muslims, Jerusalem loomed large in the global imagination for centuries. By 1914, it had shrunken in size and importance among Ottoman urban centers. T.E. Lawrence scorned Jerusalem as “a dirty city” whose past was “so strong it failed to have a present.” The coming of war raised its profile again when Djemal Pasha made it a forward mustering center for the canal expedition. Scott Anderson, Lawrence in Arabia, New York, NY, 2013, p. 88; McMeekin, p. 172; Ruppin, Syria, p. 7. 197. German Templer Albrecht Fast opened the Hotel Fast in 1891 near Jerusalem’s Old City. Popular with westerners, the luxurious hotel became a hangout for young German officers during the war to talk about wine, women and military strategy. Alexander Aaronsohn, With the Turks in Palestine, New York, NY, 1916, pp. 37 – 8; Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am, Times of Israel, 6 April 2013, “A German Colony in Jerusalem.”

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198. German General Consul Edmund Schmidt (1855 – 1916). Adelheid M. von Hauff, Frauen Gestalten Diakonie: Band 2, Vom 18. bis zum 20. Jahrhundert, Stuttgart, Germany, 2006, p. 262. 199. Friedrich Fast, one of the Hotel Fast’s owners, managed the Sinai expedition’s food supply. His brother and co-owner Theodor was a soldier on the expedition. Jerusalem Quarterly, #56 (Winter/Spring 2014), Norbert Schwake, “The Great War in Palestine: Doctor Tawfiq Canaan’s Photographic Album,” p. 149; Norbert Schwake, Deutsche Soldatengra¨ber in Israel: der Einsatz deutscher Soldaten an der Pala¨stinafront im Ersten Weltkrieg und das Schicksal ihrer Grabsta¨tten, Mu¨nster, Germany, 2008, p. 267. 200. Colonel Zeki Bey, military commander of Jerusalem and childhood friend of Djemal Pasha. The Germans scorned his hedonistic ways, calling him Der Tanz Pasha (the Dance Pasha). Zeki endeared himself to Jews in Jerusalem by working to restrain the worst excesses of his superiors, giving rise to rumors that he was of Do¨nmeh ancestry. Ballobar, Mazza, p. 192; Ben Yehuda, pp. 18 – 19, 24, 27, 32. 201. The seventh-century Muslim khalif ‘Abd al Malik built the Mosque of ‘Omar on the site of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Across the plaza stands the 8thcentury al ‘Aqsa Mosque. These are the two most important Islamic structures in Jerusalem. Baedeker, Pa¨lastina, p. 144. 202. The eleventh-century church built on the site where Christians believe Christ was buried after his crucifixion. Ibid., pp. 31 – 2. 203. The Empress Augusta Viktoria Sanatorium, a hospital on the Mount of Olives named after Kaiser Wilhelm’s wife. Djemal Pasha used it as his own headquarters during the war. William Dennison McCrackan, The New Palestine: An Authoritative Account of Palestine Since the Great War, London, UK, 1922, pp. 153–4; Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: the Biography, New York, NY, 2011, p. 413. 204. Theodora Barkhausen (1869 – 1959), a nurse with the German Kaiserswerther Deaconess order, ran the Mount of Olives Sanatorium in Jerusalem throughout the war, leaving only after the expulsion of all German nationals in mid-1918. Ballobar, Mazza, p. 202; Jakob Eisler, Deutsche in Pala¨stina und ihr Anteil an der Modernisierung des Landes, Wiesbaden, Germany, 2008, p. 55. 205. Hafir al ‘Awja, an ancient desert road junction and crossing point on the Palestine – Sinai border south of Ghaza, a major Ottoman military base and hospital complex after 1914, and railway stop on the line heading south from Beersheba by early 1916. Over the Front, Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 1998, Dieter Gro¨schel, Ju¨rgen Ladek, “Wings Over Sinai and Palestine”, p. 5; Schwake, “Tawfiq Canaan,” pp. 148– 9. 206. The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer built near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by the Germans in 1893; the Haram ash-Sharif (Arabic: Noble Sanctuary), the plaza area where the Dome of the Rock and al ‘Aqsa mosque now stand; the Mount of Olives, the ridgeline east of Jerusalem where the

234

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209. 210. 211. 212. 213. 214. 215.

216.

217. 218. 219.

220.

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Garden of Gethsemane and the site of Christ’s ascension to heaven are located. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, pp. 141–6, 153. His Majesty, Kaiser Wilhelm. Bir as-Saba, or Beersheba, an Ottoman administrative center built near an ancient crossroads and cluster of wells in 1900 to strengthen the pacification campaign against the warlike Negev bedouin in southern Palestine. ‘Aref Abu Rabi’a, Bedouin Century: Education and Development among the Negev Tribes in the 20th Century, Oxford, UK, 2001, pp. 7 –15. A village between Jerusalem and Khan al Lubban on the Jerusalem – Nablus road. Ballobar, Mazza, pp. 212, 214. French: meeting. Mansion, p. 545. Salim or ‘Awni ‘abd al Hadi. An armed, uniformed attendant in the service of a distinguished person. Whitney, Smith, Vol. 2, p. 871. Coastal Mediterranean city famed for its orange groves, and Palestine’s third largest city. Ruppin, Syria, 1918, pp. 7, 8, 20. French: reporter, sneak. Mansion, p. 526. Hans-Erich Tzschirner met Hilgendorff in his bedouin guise in Damascus at about this time. “One day, a strange apparition showed up at our hotel”, Tzschirner related. “He was done up with an abaya, a long shirtlike overcoat of colorful silk, wore a kuffiyeh on his head, a scarf which is supported by a circlet of black wool, in his belt, three hooked daggers and at least four modern revolvers. A pair of loafers of Morocco leather made the outfit complete. You would have believed that an Arabian prince out of the Najd to be standing in front of you whose glittering eyes promised nothing good to an enemy.” Tzschirner, p. 80. Brasch, a Suez Canal service pilot, attempted to block the canal by sinking a freighter in August 1914. Minutes before the ship was to enter the canal, suspicious British authorities boarded it. Threatened afterwards with arrest and deportation, Brasch left for Beirut in September 1914. Salvador Oberhaus, “Zum wilden Aufstande entflammen”: Die deutsche A¨gyptenpolitik 1914 bis 1918, Ein Beitrag zur Propagandageschichte des Ersten Weltkrieges, Du¨sseldorf, Germany, 2006, pp. 228– 9. A weekly pro-CUP newspaper in Beirut. Tauber, p. 143. An Alexandria neighborhood near the seaward end of the Heptastadion, the isthmus between the east and west harbors. Baedeker, Egypt, p. 19. A well-to-do summer seaside resort area in Alexandria’s eastern suburbs. Ibid., p. 26; Michael Haag, Alexandria: City of Memory, New Haven, CT, 2004, pp. 26, 31. Hermann Hoffmann-Fo¨lkersamb (1875–1955), German vice-consul in Aleppo and Alexandretta, Syria and Tripoli, Lebanon during the war, and frequent reporter to the embassy in Constantinople on the Armenian deportations. Gust, p. 79; Claudia Rammelt, Cornelia Schlarb, Egbert Schlarb, eds, Begegnungen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart: Beitra¨ge Dialogischer Existenz, Berlin, Germany, 2015, p. 450, 452.

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221. Arabic: fighter who risks himself recklessly. Wehr, Cowan, p. 821. 222. Many incarcerated criminals volunteered for the SO during the war, particularly as the pool of Ottoman manpower declined throughout combat death, injury and desertion. An expanded recruitment law passed in August 1914 allowed the recruitment of violent offenders, eliciting an enthusiastic response. Bes¸ikc i, p. 160– 4. 223. A German-supported magazine published in Damascus. Olaf Farschid, Manfred Kropp, Stephan Da¨hne, The First World War as Remembered in the Countries of the Eastern Mediterranean, Beirut, Lebanon, 2006, p. 397. 224. The Prophet Muhammad fled to Medina to escape persecution in Mecca. Using Medina as a base of operations, he conquered the entire Arabian peninsula. As a holy Islamic site, Medina is second only to Mecca itself. Bearman et al., “al-Madina”, W.M. Watt, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. 225. Large numbers of Circassians participated and held prominent roles in the SO. Gingeras, p. 38. 226. Circassian Es¸ref Kus¸cubas¸ı Sencer (1883– 1964), an SO leader who led intelligence, combat and diplomatic operations in Syria, Lebanon, Arabia, Sinai and North Africa. Kus¸cubas¸ı collaborated with Mu¨mtaz Bey in collecting intelligence on Levantine Arab nationalists in the Ottoman army suspected of treason. He participated in the break-ins at the French consulates in Beirut and Damascus in September and November 1915 that netted the Turks documents incriminating Arab nationalist civilians. He was later captured in Yemen on 13 January 1917. Fortna, pp. 23, 25, 150 –8, 169, 171– 6, 179– 96. 227. Bandits in Balkan countries who in previous years had fought Turkish authorities with support from neighboring Balkan nations. Hugh Seton-Watson, Christopher Seton-Watson, The Making of a New Europe: R.W. Seton-Watson and the Last Years of Austria–Hungary, Methuen, NJ, 1981, p. 71. 228. Former Ottoman Christians from the southeastern Balkan region. Heilprin, p. 1581. 229. The SO seized key oases along the Turks’ route of advance to the canal through Sinai, Mu¨mtaz along the northern Sinai coast (Rafa – el ‘Arish –Qantara), Kus¸cubas¸ı along the southern route (‘Aqaba – an-Nakhl – Suez). Fortna, p. 151. 230. Turkish garrison town on Arabia’s Red Sea Coast 200 miles north-west of Yanbu. Its capture by Faysal ibn Husayn on 24 January 1917 gave the Arab rebels control of nearly the entire coastline of Hijaz. Allawi, pp. 84 – 6; British Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Division, A Handbook of Arabia, Vol. 1, London, UK, 1917, pp. 113– 14. 231. A town on Sinai’s Mediterranean coast at the mouth of a river, the Wadi el ‘Arish, long considered the ancient boundary of Egypt and Palestine. Wilfred Scalwen Blunt, My Diaries, 1888 – 1914, Part II, New York, NY, 1922, pp. 139 – 40.

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232. Fourteen hundred bedouins from Beersheba led by Mu¨mtaz Bey raided Sinai on 26 October, the first Ottoman armed force to penetrate British territory. After this, British forces began evacuating posts throughout Sinai, including el ‘Arish and Kala’at an-Nakhl, blowing up wells as they retreated. Rabi’a, p. 14; Times History, Vol. 3, pp. 304, 318–19. 233. The Naqshbandis were a mystical Central Asian Sufi order widespread in the Ottoman Empire whose political engagement in world affairs and multinational network of hostels, retreat centers and meeting houses (tekke in Turkish) made them an ideal vehicle for spreading propaganda. Juan Eduardo Campo, ed., Encyclopedia of Islam, New York, NY, 2009, pp. 517–18; John Renard, Historical Dictionary of Sufism, Lanham, MD, 2005, pp. 36, 200. 234. ‘Eid al ‘Adha (Arabic: Feast of the Sacrifice; Turkish: Kurban Bayramı), the three-day-long holiday commemorating God’s command to the prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son ‘Isma’il (the Islamic equivalent of the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac). Terry Richardson, The Rough Guide to Istanbul, New York, NY, 2015, p. 43. 235. Damascus was the regional center of the camel trade. Camel merchant Muhammad al Bassam controlled half of that trade in 1914, bringing in between 24,000 and 32,000 camels annually. When bedouins near the Syrian border balked at selling camels to the Turks in the large numbers they were seeking, this forced the Turks to use less suitable camel breeds for the Suez campaign. Handbook of Arabia, Vol. 2, pp. 17, 21. 236. Vehib Pasha came to the Hijaz in February 1914 to impose tighter control over Sharif Husayn by completing the Hijaz Railway. When the Arabs began publicly protesting and abducting Turkish officials, the Turks backed down, offering Husayn a cut in railway revenues and permanent, hereditary leadership of the Hijaz in exchange for his allowing continued railway construction. Randall Baker, King Husayn and the Kingdom of Hejaz, New York, NY, 1979, pp. 42 – 4, 46. 237. After Ibn Sa’ud defeated the Turks at al Hasa in eastern Arabia in 1913, the Turks acknowledged him as vali of the Najd and al Hasa. Hugh Chisholm, ed., Encyclopedia Britannica, 12th edition, Vol. XXX, London, UK, 1922, p. 167. 238. The war faction in the CUP used this as a cover story to justify war with Russia. Aksakal, p. 182. 239. Enver chose naval officer Hu¨seyın Rauf Orbay (1881–1964) to lead a Turkish delegation to Afghanistan in October 1914. In Mesopotamia and Persia, Rauf ran military operations, getting recalled because his brutal methods were harming German alliance overtures to the Persians. McMeekin, pp. 219–20, 277–8, 280; Erik J. Zu¨rcher, Turkey, A Modern History, London, UK, 2004, p. 399. 240. Turkish garrison and rail depot north of Medina in the Hijaz. Barr, Desert, pp. 101, 148. 241. Both Black Sea port cities. Collier, pp. 219, 242. 242. Kaiser Wilhelm II brashly proclaimed himself the protector of the global Muslim community at an evening dinner in Damascus in 1898 following

NOTES

243.

244.

245. 246.

247. 248.

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remarks by Shaykh Muhammad ‘Ali al Kuzbari praising the German-Ottoman friendship. He´le`ne S. Sader, Thomas Scheffler, Angelika Neuwirth, eds, Baalbek: Image and Monument, 1898–1998, Stuttgart, Germany, 1998, p. 132. The ‘Asfar family, one of Damascus’ biggest antiquities dealers, frequently hosted European guests at their house. Unfortunately, the francophile ‘Asfars spoke French at home, to the frequent discomfiture of their non-French speaking guests. Tzschirner, pp. 76 – 7. Mersinli Djemal Pasha (1873 – 1940) commanded the VIII Army Corps of the Ottoman 4th Army. Kress was his chief of staff. Here in this and following diary entries as far as January 1915, Pru¨fer spells his name the typically Egyptian Arabic way, “Gamal.” Djemal, pp. 137, 147; Edward J. Erickson, Ordered to Die: A History of the Ottoman Army in the First World War, Westport, CT, 2001, p. 153; Handan Nezir-Akmese, The Birth of Modern Turkey: The Ottoman Military and the March to WWI, London, UK, 2005, p. 192. The first shots fired by British forces upon the Turks. Rogan, p. 75. Enver, Talaat, Djemal and parliamentary president Halil Bey finally decided to enter the war on 11 October, spurred on by Germany’s pledge to expedite promised gold shipments. Two weeks later, Enver authorized attacks in the Black Sea by Souchon, the proclamation of holy war, and military operations against the Russian Caucasus and British Egypt. On 29 October, Souchon took the Turkish fleet on a Pearl Harbor-like sneak attack, shelling Russian ports at Odessa, Sevastopol, Novorossisk and Feodosia, sinking several Russian warships and mining the Bosporus. Declarations of war against the Turks swiftly followed: Russia (2 November), then Britain and France (5 November). The die was now cast. “I have thrown the Turks into the powder keg and kindled war between Russia and Turkey”, Souchon boasted in a letter to his wife. Indeed he had. Hamilton, Herwig, p. 166; McKale, War, p. 85; McMeekin, pp. 119– 21; Tucker, Powers, p. 653. Peter Dieckmann, director general of the Hijaz Railway since 1912. Nicholson, p. 77. An Ottoman diplomat of Greek – Lebanese descent residing in Syria, Habib Lutfallah served as an attache´ to Sa’id Halim, and in 1914, as deputy envoy for Bakir Sami Bey in Beirut. In October 1915, after fleeing Syria following his brother’s condemnation to death by the government, Lutfallah approached the British in Switzerland to propose gathering intelligence. Though General John Maxwell saw Lutfallah as “a weak, vain type of Syrian with no bottom, and . . . full of schemes”, he nonetheless let Lutfallah return to Syria. Lutfallah’s reports to the British varied in reliability, and when his political ambitions for a future Arab state began clashing with British policy, he was returned to Egypt and kept under surveillance. After the war, Lutfallah served Sharif Husayn, then king of Hijaz, as foreign envoy. Yigal Sheffy, British Military Intelligence in the Palestine Campaign, 1914– 1918, Oxon, UK, 1998, pp. 87 –8; International Bank Note Society Journal, Vol. 44,

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252.

253.

254.

255.

256. 257.

258.

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Number 3, 2005, Peter Symes, “Habib Lotfallah and the Arabian National Bank of Hedjaz.” An Africa veteran originally chosen to accompany the Afghan expedition, now head staff doctor for the Suez expedition. Tzschirner, p. 57. NARA, T137/23/213. Ruler of the ‘Asir region in southwestern Arabia between Yemen and the Red Sea. In 1911 and 1912, he revolted against Turkish rule with Italian help, but Sharif Husayn and the Turks crushed the revolt. ‘Idrisi pledged his support to the Ottoman war effort at first, but by December, was negotiating with the British. Direct descendants of the prophet Muhammad are addressed as sayyid. Esposito, p. 30; Kayalı, pp. 110, 164, 169; McKale, War, pp. 54, 95. Oppenheim secured authorization later that same month for Pru¨fer’s participation in the Suez Expedition. PAAA, R21125, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 3. African veteran Captain Adolf Fischer helped establish the water supply along the line of advance through Sinai, and during the expedition, ran reconnaissance missions on the expeditionary force’s flanks. Kress, p. 88. Hans-Erich Tzschirner was originally assigned to the Afghan Expedition, but was transferred to ‘Aqaba after squabbling with teammates. Oberhaus, Aufstande, p. 245. A watering place and fortified station in central Sinai along the Suez – ‘Aqaba – Mecca pilgrim route and British military post up until its evacuation. Lina Eckstein, A History of Sinai, London, UK, 1921, pp. 2, 175, 185; Sheffy, pp. 7, 10, 15 – 16, 42. Husayn al Habbal, owner of ‘Ababil. Hugh P. Cecil, Peter Liddle, Facing Armageddon: The First World War Experienced, London, UK, 2003, p. 654. Many Algerians, Moroccans and Tunisians – colonial volunteers and conscripts designated the Army of Africa – fought alongside French troops on the Western Front. When captured, they were interned separately in several prison camps in Germany: the Halbmondlager at Wu¨nsdorf– Zossen, Lager Weinberg near Berlin, and Sennelager near Paderborn. There, the News Bureau for the Orient preached a pro-German, pan-Islamist message to the prisoners, to spur defections to the Ottoman side. Hundreds of POWs did defect. Salvador Oberhaus, Deutsche Propaganda im Orient wa¨hrend des Ersten Weltkrieges, Du¨sseldorf, Germany, 2002, pp. 62 – 6; Rogan, Fall, pp. 60 – 5, 72, 74. Djemal Pasha arrested Shukri Pasha al ‘Ayyubi in 1916 after discovering letters in his house in Damascus calling for an Arab revolt. Djemal condemned Shukri to death, but pardoned him in 1917. Tahsin Bey, the vali of Damascus and General Mersinli Djemal Pasha sent Shukri to negotiate with Emir Faysal in as-Salt, Transjordan in May 1918. At war’s end, Shukri joined in the ‘Abd al Qadirs’ unsuccessful power play in Damascus. T.E. Lawrence later installed Shukri as civil military governor. Allawi, pp. 139– 40; C¸ic ek, War, pp. 60, 63, 64; Lawrence, pp. 468–9.

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239

259. In 1913, Lebanese Arab nationalists wrote the French consul in Beirut, Francois Georges-Picot, requesting French aid in gaining independence. Before evacuating Beirut after the declaration of war, Picot ignored instructions to destroy these documents, hiding them inside the French consulate instead, where the Turks later discovered them. Picot and British cabinet member Sir Mark Sykes later negotiated the controversial treaty bearing their names. James Barr, A Line in the Sand: The Anglo – French Struggle for the Middle East, 1914– 1948, New York, NY, 2012, pp. 16 – 17; Tauber, pp. 39 – 40. 260. These Transjordanian bedouin tribes all joined the Arab revolt in 1917. Lawrence, pp. 173– 5, 388, 417– 18; Bearman et al., “Sakhr,” Mohammad al Bakhit, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. 261. In 1900, Turkish Hijaz Railway engineer Hajj Muchtar Bey surveyed ancient hajj routes through Syria, Jordan and Arabia as potential rail courses, surmising correctly that over time, pilgrims had found the easiest routes through the desert. Saudi –Aramco World, September/October 1965, Daniel da Cruz, “Pilgrim’s Road”, pp. 24 – 33. 262. The Germans incorrectly believed that British-ruled Indian Muslims were ripe for revolt. These two Indian brothers belonged to the Indian Independence Committee that Max von Oppenheim convened in Berlin in August 1914 to foment revolt in British India. McKale, War, pp. 76 –8. 263. Henry Cumberbatch, British consul in Beirut (1908 – 14). Isaiah Friedman, British Pan-Arab Policy, 1915 – 1922, New Brunswick, NJ, 2010, p. 14. 264. Ottoman deputy Shaykh Talib an-Naqib led the Basra Reform Society (established 1913) in demanding Arab rights within a decentralized Ottoman Empire. The British invaders of Mesopotamia offered Talib governorship of Basra, but he chose to remain with the Turks, even though the Turks wanted to arrest him for treason. To win back Turkish favor, he unsuccessfully attempted to recruit Ibn Sa’ud to the Ottoman cause in the fall of 1914. Afterwards, Talib went into exile in India. Rogan, Fall, pp. 81 – 3. 265. ‘Abd al Ghani al ‘Ureysi owned the influential Beirut newspaper El Mufid, the main media outlet for the secret Arab nationalist society al Fatat. Djemal Pasha attempted to recruit ‘Uraysi to print government propaganda, while ‘Uraysi was secretly urging Sharif Husayn to revolt in Syria. ‘Uraysi was arrested for treason in early 1915 in Djemal’s sweep-up of Arab nationalists after trying to flee to the Hijaz. Despite making confessions leading to further arrests and executions, ‘Uraysi was hanged on 6 May 1916. Rashid Khalidi, The Origins of Arab Nationalism, New York, NY, 1991, pp. 55, 62 – 3; Tauber, pp. 35, 47 –50, 55, 67 –8. 266. An Anglo– Japanese force besieged the German colony of Tsingtao, China, finally forcing its surrender on 7 November 1914. Tucker, Definitive Encyclopedia, pp. 1291– 3. 267. Turkish: camels. Alderson, Iz, p. 133.

240

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268. On 10 November, Wangenheim reported to the AA a number of rumors about Mors’ fate, according to which he had been arrested, shot or courtmartialed. According to Wangenheim, Pru¨fer sent a warning telegram to Mors, who was in Athens, but Mors didn’t receive it. From Athens, Mors telegraphed on 17 September: “If no news of me up till Monday, than jailed.” He was later condemned to death on 30 October, but the death sentence was commuted to imprisonment. PAAA, R21125, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 3. 269. The weapon smuggling into Egypt was aimed at arming the hoped-for Egyptian uprising. Cf. diary entries for 26 and 27 November 1914. 270. The same day the Turks declared war against the Entente, 11 November, the S¸eyhu¨lıslam (i.e., Shaykh of Islam) Urgu¨plu¨ Mustafa Hayri Effendi formally declared holy war against the Entente at a public ceremony in Constantinople’s Fatih Sultan Mehmet Mosque. Five fatwas (religious rulings) followed on 14 November, pronouncing all Muslims duty-bound to fight and kill unbelievers, with the exception of the Turks’ Christian allies. The declaration panicked non-Muslim religious minorities throughout the Empire, who already feared massacres because of painful past experiences. Lionel Gossman, The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler, Cambridge, UK, 2013, pp. 86 – 7; McMeekin, pp. 123 – 4, 127. 271. Palestinian port city between Haifa and Jaffa. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, p. 72. 272. Kurdish – Circassian editor Muhammad Kurd ‘Ali (1876– 1953) ran the highcirculation newspaper al Muqtabas, Damascus’ first Arabic daily newspaper (founded 1909). Pro-German and pro-Arabist, Kurd ‘Ali was committed to Syrian freedom from European domination within a strong Ottoman state. Despite his Arabist views, his refusal to collude with other foreign powers to further his cause endeared him to Djemal Pasha. C¸ic ek, War, p. 46 – 7; George N. Atiyeh, Ibrahim M. Oweiss, eds, Arab Civilization, Challenges and Responses: Studies in Honor of Constantine K. Zurayk, Albany, New York, NY, 1988, pp. 312– 15, 318– 21; D.R. Woolf, ed., A Global Encyclopedia of Historical Writing, Vol. 2, New York, NY, 1998, p. 521– 2. 273. Captain Lindemann managed the trans-shipping of military supplies through Palestine and the construction of provision and munition depots in Ghaza, Beersheba and Ma’an. Kress, p. 66. 274. Emile Sprotte, German head teacher at the sultani (i.e., secondary) school in Damascus. C¸ic ek, War, p. 221. 275. Turkish: municipality. Ballobar, Mazza, p. 7. 276. The military administration building in Damascus. Palestine Exploration Fund, Quarterly Statement for 1924, London, UK, 1924, p. 69. 277. Hans Martin Kuno Moderow (1877– 1945), pastor of the German evangelical community in Haifa (1908– 18). Eisler, Modernisierung, p. 80; Paul Hommel, Jakob Eisler, Norbert Haag, Sabine Holtz, Kultureller Wandel in Pala¨stina im fru¨hen 20. Jahrhundert, Epfendorf, Germany, 2003, p. 129.

NOTES

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41 – 42

241

278. Government authorities held parades and rallies in cities and towns throughout Syria and Palestine to drum up enthusiasm for the jihad against Egypt. War & Society, 35:1, M. Talha C¸ic ek, “The Holy War in Syria: Cemal Pasha and the Ottoman Plan to Conquer Egypt in the First World War”, p. 46. 279. I.e., Ottoman Arab. 280. Turkish: Islamic religious teacher. Alderson, Iz, p. 138. 281. Palestinian town midway between Nablus and Tel Aviv. Campos, p. 226. 282. Dr Heinrich Bro¨de (1874– 1977), German consul in Jaffa, later consul in Jerusalem and Damascus. C¸ic ek, Syria, pp. 94, 100, 240. 283. Hassan Bey, Ottoman governor of Jaffa (1914 – 16), known as the “Tyrant of Jaffa”, “the harshest and most cruel” of officials and “an ignorant fanatic.” Hassan continually antagonized Jews in Jaffa and Tel Aviv by threatening Jewish property and safety (after Turkey’s declaration of war, he distributed a pamphlet urging all Muslims to kill Jews and Christians), and hindering the expansion of newly-founded Tel Aviv by Zionist colonists. He also alienated Arab residents of Jaffa by indiscriminately demolishing houses and other buildings in the name of urban renewal. Friedman, Turkey, p. 199; Mark LeVine, Overthrowing Geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv, and the Struggle for Palestine, Los Angeles, CA, 2005, pp. 73 – 5. 284. The administrator of a sanjak, subdivision of a vilayet. Whitney, Smith, Vol. 8, p. 5335. 285. German – Russian doctor working at the Russian Hospital in Jerusalem. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, p. 17. 286. Spanish vice consul in Jaffa. Ballobar, Mazza, p. 32. 287. Czech priest, orientalist and explorer Alois Musil (1868 – 1944). In November 1914, Musil traveled to central Arabia to recruit Arab chieftains Nuri ibn Shaalan, Ibn Rashid and Ibn Sa’ud to the holy war, finding instead that constant Arab infighting squelched enthusiasm for the Turkish war effort and hindered camel procurement for the canal expedition, a situation exacerbated by the flight of the bedouins to escape Ottoman requisitions. Musil also denounced pro-Turkish Ibn Rashid as a traitor, after heard that he was using Turkish financial support to attack Nuri ibn Shaalan (later an ally of Faysal and Lawrence). Additionally, British agents were working hard to steal Arab loyalties, but as Musil reported, the vast amounts of money and guns given by both sides only bought cooperation not loyalty. McKale, War, pp. 30, 38, 65 – 6, 91, 107; McMeekin, pp. 153 – 65. 288. Al Jawf, an oasis in northern Arabia and part of Ruwalla tribal chieftain Shaykh Nuri ibn Shaalan’s domains. Alexei Vassiliev, The History of Saudi Arabia, NY, 1998, p. 222. 289. Before the war, German consul in Beirut Wilhelm Padel (1866 – 1950) dismissed signs of Arab unrest, based on what he considered the Arabs’ “moral and intellectual” inferiority. As consul in Damascus in 1915, Padel changed his tune, warning his superiors about the threat of Sharif Husayn’s growing disloyalty. Bill Hickman, Gary Leiser, eds, Turkish Language, Literature and

242

290.

291.

292.

293.

294.

295.

296. 297.

298.

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42 –43

History: Travelers’ Tales, Sultans and Scholars Since the Eighth Century, Abingdon, UK, 2015, p. 246; McKale, War, pp. 28, 106. Nazif al Khalidi, a Hijaz Railway engineer from Jerusalem who directed the construction of the Damascus train station. Murat O¨zyu¨ksel, The Hejaz Railway and the Ottoman Empire: Modernity, Industrialization and Ottoman Decline, London, UK, 2014, p. 107. Associates of Georg Gondos, an Arabic-speaking Hungarian Jew (born 1891) who worked at the British fleet fuel and oil reservoir on the Egyptian Red Sea coast before the war. Gondos and Simon, a jurist, hatched the idea of crippling the British fleet by blowing up these oil tanks. Soon, Gondos and Simon were en route, accompanied by Kastriner, an explosives engineer, and Wienecke, a Hungarian newspaper editor, arriving in Damascus on 20 November. Six days later, Gondos departed with a Turkish officer and two bedouins for a reconnaissance trip through Sinai, returning to Jerusalem by 30 December. The information gained caused Gondos to abandon his original plans. Peter Jung, Der k.u.k. Wu¨stenkrieg: O¨sterreich – Ungarn im Vorderen Orient 1915– 1918, Vienna, Austria, 1992, pp. 23 – 6, 174; Tzschirner, pp. 194– 5. Correspondent Erich Susermann, who wrote for the Berliner Lokale Anzeiger (the Berlin Local Advertiser), as Pru¨fer did during his Cairo years. Donald McKale, Curt Pru¨fer: German Diplomat from the Kaiser to Hitler, Kent, OH, 1987, pp. 196–7. Field Marshal Colmar, Baron von der Goltz (1842–1916) commanded an earlier German military mission to Constantinople (1885–95), then became adjutant to the Ottoman sultan in December 1914. In December 1915, he assumed command of siege operations against the British at Kut, Mesopotamia, but died of typhus in April 1916. McMeekin, pp. 8, 37, 182, 280, 284–5. Colonel Werner von Frankenberg und Proschlitz (1868– 1933), chief of staff of the Ottoman 4th Army. Franz Werfel, The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, Jaffrey, NH, 2012, p. 452. The Sanussis, a puritanical Muslim tribe living on the Libyan– Egyptian border, once fought the Italians in Libya as Turkish allies, and now threatened Egypt. While the Germans and Turks were pressuring them to attack and the British sought pledges of neutrality, the Sanussis were negotiating with both sides. McKale, War, pp. 70, 93; McMeekin, p. 261– 6. PAAA, R21127, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 5. Railway station town (Port Sa’id–Cairo line) on the east bank of the canal south of Port Sa’id. It became the largest British base camp in the region by 1918. Baedeker, Egypt, 1914, p. 185; David R. Woodward, Hell in the Holy Land: World War I in the Middle East, Lexington, KY, 2006, p. 43. Sitting on the canal’s west bank, the former canal construction main headquarters and wartime canal sector defense force headquarters lies halfway between Port Sa’id and Suez. Baedeker, Egypt, p. 179; Stuart Hadaway, Pyramids and Fleshpots: the Egyptian, Sanussi and Eastern Mediterranean Campaigns, 1914– 1916, Stroud, UK, 2015, p. 170

NOTES TO PAGES 43 – 47

243

299. A line of large, interlocking lakes above Suez in the south through which the canal transits. Baedeker, Egypt, p. 186. 300. A mountain overlooking the south end of Lake Timsa, the small lake south of ‘Isma’iliyeh. Ibid. 301. ‘Isma’iliyeh lies on the north shore of Lake Timsa, through which the canal flows. Ibid., p. 179. 302. A southern Cairo suburb, on the edge of the desert. Several foreign hospitals and the Egyptian army military school and barracks were here. Ibid., p. 78. 303. Village on the railway near ‘Abbasiyeh. Ibid., p. 120. 304. Coastal town at the head of Nile’s eastern branch north-east of Cairo. Ibid., p. 122. 305. Coastal Mediterranean town east of Alexandria. Ibid., pp. cxx, 30. 306. Eastern Nile delta town between Damietta and Cairo, where much of Egypt’s cotton and grain were grown. Ibid., pp. 171, 181. 307. A prosperous, highly Europeanized agricultural town close to ‘Abu el ‘Akhdar. Ibid., p. 171. 308. The Coptic church is Egypt’s national Christian church dating back to the 1st century AD. Goldschmidt, Historical, p. 108. 309. The Nile Valley district of Egypt south of Cairo down to Upper Nubia (today’s Egyptian – Sudanese border area). Baedeker, Egypt, pp. xlvi– xlvii. 310. Internment facilities for Ottoman women and children inside the citadel grounds. Wilson, p. 538. 311. This text is crossed out in the diary. 312. Maronite Christian Najib Malhameh (1856– 1927), a former secret police official, diplomat and journalist during Abdu¨lhamid’s reign, volunteered to come to Syria to encourage Ottoman Christians to remain loyal to the government. Djemal Pasha rejected his offered services. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 43, no. 1, February 2011, Jens Hanssen, “’Malhame´’ – ‘Malfame´’: Levantine Elites and Transimperial Networks on the Eve of the Young Turk Revolution,” pp. 37 – 42. 313. Heinrich August Meissner (1862 – 1940) gained railway engineering experience in Turkey in the 1880s and 1890s, and consequently the Turks appointed him as head engineer of the Hijaz Railway construction project. Ulrich Fiedler, Der Bedeutungswandel der Hedschasbahn, Berlin, 1984, p. 59; ¨ zyu¨ksel, pp. 105– 106. O 314. Djemal Pasha’s arrival in Damascus marked a new chapter in the Turks’ struggle against Arab nationalism. Before the war, the Turks aimed to neutralize Arab nationalism through persuasion, bribery and moderate punishment. Djemal now aimed to crush it altogether through much more radical punishments of those self-seeking “traitors” who sought to gain independence from Constantinople with the aid of foreign powers (Djemal never objected to the advocacy of Arab political and cultural rights itself, as long as it rejected separatism). Ironically, at the time Djemal’s crackdown began ramping up, few Arab nationalists were contemplating open revolt.

244

315. 316. 317. 318. 319. 320.

321. 322.

323.

324. 325. 326. 327.

328.

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47 –51

Indeed, most nationalists who opposed the increasing centralization of government power sought only greater autonomy within the Ottoman system, and even this more moderate stance garnered little support among Arab common people and many notables, who were predominantly pro-Ottoman early in the war. C¸ic ek, War, pp. 39 – 46. Ahmet Djemal, once again called “Gamal” in Pru¨fer’s diary. French: gusto. Mansion, p. 231. Italian: all and sundry. Pat Bulhosen, Francesca Logi, Loredana Riu, eds, Compact Oxford Italian Dictionary, Oxford, UK, 2013, p. 762. PAAA, R21127, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 5. Mersinli Djemal, who commanded the VIII Corps. An ornate, camel-mounted, curtained litter box bearing a Qur’an and a new cloth covering for the prophet Muhammad’s tomb in Mecca. The mahmal led off annual pilgrim processions to Mecca from Cairo and Damascus. It signified the power and authority local rulers extended over traveling pilgrims for their protection, and was also thought to sanctify the pilgrim procession. The Syrian mahmal tradition stopped sometime around the end of World War I. F.E. Peters, The Hajj: the Muslim Pilgrimage to Mekkah and the Holy Places, Princeton, NJ, 1994, pp. 165– 7. Arabic: If God wills it. Wehr, Cowan, p. 579. Tomb of the Muslim leader of the Second Crusade built beside the ‘Umayyad Mosque in Damascus in 1196. The kaiser funded renovations to it after his second state visit in 1898. Ross Burns, Monuments of Syria: A Guide, London, UK, 1992, p. 113. A Russian cruiser involved in coastal bombardment and commerce raiding along the Levantine coastline. Paul Halpern, A Naval History of World War I, Annapolis, Maryland, 2012, pp. 75, 107, 113. Former Ottoman consul in Salonika in 1914 and volunteer in the “Egyptian section” of 4th Army headquarters. Djemal, p. 140. PAAA, R21127, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 5. Palestinian port city 20 miles north-east of the Sinai border where three battles would take place in 1917. Rogan, Fall, pp. 318, 327– 31, 344– 8. No Turkish air force yet existed, and the first German planes deployed to the Middle East wouldn’t arrive until January 1915. Cross and Cockade Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, Summer 1970, Brian P. Flanagan, “The History of the Ottoman Air Force in the Great War: The Reports of Major Erich Serno”, pp. 100 –103. Economic hardship and government crackdowns on dissent forced many Ottoman newspapers to close after the outbreak of war. Survivors faced continuing censorship, or government co-optation as organs for massdistributed pan-Islamic, anti-Entente propaganda. Other new propaganda publications, like those mentioned here, were launched with German cash and advisory assistance. One important new propaganda organ was the Damascus newspaper established by Djemal in 1916, Ash-Sharq (The East).

NOTES

329.

330. 331.

332. 333.

334.

335.

336.

TO PAGES

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245

Ami Ayalon, The Press in the Arab Middle East: A History, Oxford, UK, 1995, pp. 65 – 71. Undoubtedly like the demonstration in front of the Ottoman war ministry and German embassy in Constantinople on 14 November 1914, featuring bellicose speeches by Ambassador Wangenheim and North African POWs extolling the sultan’s holy war. McMeekin, p. 126. Arab agents employed by the German embassy and the consulates out in the provinces carried out this task. McKale, War, p. 61. The holy green banner of the Prophet Muhammad fetched from Mecca to give the expedition the flavor of holy war. A dramatic sendoff ceremony attended by Jerusalem’s city leaders happened atop Mount Scopus near Jerusalem on 20 December. Kress, pp. 78 – 80. A French convent in Jerusalem seized by Turkish authorities. Ballobar, Mazza, pp. 29, 190. Dr Hans Spoer, a German orientalist specializing in modern Syria and Palestine, taught in Jerusalem. A US Customs Service report of 10 June 1918 stated that Spoer was “in Turkish employ in the Turkish theater of operations, and that his American wife was spreading anti-British propaganda.” Actions Committee of the Zionist Organization, The Struggle for the Hebrew Language in Palestine, New York, NY, 1914, p. 48; NARA/ San Francisco, Record Group 36, Collector of Customs, San Francisco, Intelligence Division Reports on Passengers, 1918 – 19, June 10, 1918 report; Ursula Woko¨ck, German Orientalism: The Study of the Middle East and Islam from 1800 to 1945, New York, NY, 2009, p. 233. Lithuanian Zionist journalist and lexicographer Eliezer ben Yehuda (1858 – 1922) pioneered the revival of Hebrew as an everyday language to unify the polyglot, multinational Jewish communities in Palestine into one people. Naomi E. Pasachoff, Robert J. Littman, A Concise History of the Jewish People, Lanham, MD, 2005, pp. 248– 51. Damascus-born Albert Antebi (1873 – 1919), influential director of the Alliance Israe´lite Universelle (an aid organization promoting Jewish education outside France) in Palestine. During the war, he became Djemal’s confidant, but was exiled to Damascus in 1916. Ballobar, Mazza, p. xxiii; Abigail Jacobson, From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem Between Ottoman and British Rule, Syracuse, NY, 2011, pp. 192– 3. David Yellin (1864 – 1941), a Jerusalem-born Iraqi Jew and longtime teacher at the La¨mel School in Jerusalem. A Hebrew education advocate, Yellin was among those who resigned to protest German-language instruction, later founding Beth Hakerem Teacher’s College, where instruction was Hebrew-only. During the war, Yellin was exiled to Damascus for suspected pro-Entente sympathies. In 1919, he led a delegation representing Palestine’s Jewish community (the Yishuv) to the Peace Conference in Paris separate from the Zionist delegation. Actions Committee, p. 48; Ballobar, Mazza, p. xxiv; Neil Caplan, Palestine Jewry

246

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338. 339.

340. 341.

342. 343.

344. 345.

346.

347.

348.

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and the Arab Question 1917 – 1925, New York, NY, 1978, pp. 30 – 1; Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 14 December 1941, “David Yellin, Hebrew Writer and Teacher, Dead in Jerusalem.” German Zionist leader Dr Arthur Ruppin (1876– 1943) helped found Tel Aviv in 1909. As a World Zionist Organization representative in Palestine and postwar Yishuv spokesman, he helped make most of the land purchases in Palestine intended for the future Jewish state, and exerted substantial intellectual and cultural influence in shaping pre-state institutions and society. Etan Bloom, ed., Arthur Ruppin and the Production of Pre-Israeli Culture, 2011, Leiden, the Netherlands, pp. 1 – 8. NARA, T137/23. Hasan Basri Pasha, governor of Medina, who clashed with Sharif Husayn’s son ‘Ali for interfering with his authority. Basri afterwards helped command the defense of the Hijaz Railway. Djemal, pp. 152, 170, 220. Jerusalem’s principal daily newspaper, edited by Eliezer Ben Yehuda, and closed down for being pro-Entente. Ben Yehudah, pp. 18, 27. Zeki resigned his commission, leaving Jerusalem after the Germans installed Bach as a higher ranking governor. Bach disliked Djemal Pasha and disagreed with him frequently. Aaronsohn, p. 39; Ballobar, Mazza, p. 42; Ben Yehuda, p. 32. A large town south of Jerusalem on the road to Beersheba. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, pp. 103 –15; Kress, p. 83. “So-called Tartar news, the wildest rumors whose origin it is quite impossible to trace.” The American Monthly, Vol. 2, February-August 1915, Louis Viereck, “Separate Peace with Russia”, p. 4. This shows Italy’s true sympathies, confirmed by its entry in the war in May 1915 as an Entente ally. Tucker, Powers, p. 731. The fortress of Metz in German-occupied Lorraine, which never saw significant action during the war; a victorious Russian siege against Austrian forces holed up in the Polish – Galician fortress, Przemysl (September 1914– March 1915); the victorious German siege of Antwerp, Belgium (September – October 1914). Clayton Donnell, The German Fortress of Metz, 1870– 1944, Oxford, UK, 2008, p. 7; Tucker, Powers, pp. 118, 145, 234. Syrian Christians in Egypt ran the pro-French Al Ahram and pro-British Al Muqattam newspapers, while the Egyptian-run al Mu’ayyad communicated Egyptian nationalist views. Yulia Egorova, Tudor Parfitt, eds, Jews, Muslims and Mass Media: Mediating the ’Other’, Oxon, UK, 2004, p. 18–24. ‘Abd al Malik Hamza and ‘Abd al ‘Aziz Shawish edited Die Islamische Welt (The Islamic World), a German-financed, German-language weekly published in Berlin (1916 –18) with a pan-Islamist, jihadist slant, and supportive of the German – Turkish alliance. Jacob M. Landau, Pan-Islam: History and Politics, Abingdon, UK, 2015, pp. 109– 11. ‘Isma’il Kamil, editor of Die Islamische Welt. Barbara Flemming, Karl Su¨ssheim, Jan Schmidt, The Diary of Karl Su¨ssheim (1878– 1947): Orientalist Between Munich and Istanbul, Stuttgart, Germany, 2002, p. 133; Ralph

NOTES

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350. 351.

352. 353.

354. 355.

356. 357. 358.

TO PAGES

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247

M. Coury, The Making of an Egyptian Arab Nationalist: The Early Years of Azzam Pasha, 1893– 1936, Ithaca, NY, 1998, p. 126. A group of oases in Libya’s southeastern desert, capital of the Sanussi order since 1894. ‘Ahmad Muhammad Hassanein, The Lost Oases, New York, NY, 1925, pp. 12 – 13, 52, 88. An oasis village and Hijaz Railway stop in the northern Hijaz. Handbook Arabia, Vol. 1, p. 111; Vol. 2, p. 184. The Anglo – Egyptian Oilfields, Ltd. extracted petroleum at Ra’s al Gemsa on the Egyptian coast of the Gulf of Suez 160 miles south of Suez, and 13 miles south at Gabal az-Zayt. Sir Thomas Edward Thorpe, A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry, Vol. 4, London, UK, 1913, p. 137. The main quarantine station for Muslim pilgrims travelling to Mecca, situated on Sinai’s west coast north-east of Ra’s Gemsa. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, p. 171. Nile River town and rail station west of al Qusayr used as the starting point for traveling through Egypt’s Eastern Desert, particularly by Muslim pilgrims. Baedeker, Egypt, p. 223. Nile town on the railway 25 miles west of Qena. Ibid., p. 222. Part of a chain of rift valleys along the Palestine– Transjordan border emptying into the Gulf of ‘Aqaba. It cut through rugged highlands extending from southern Syria down to ‘Aqaba west of Ma’an. Wolfgang Wagner, Groundwater in the Arab Middle East, Berlin, Germany, 2011, pp. 63 –4, 73. Arabic: valley, river bed. Wehr, Cowan, p. 1059. The Freshwater, or ‘Isma’iliyeh, Canal, which provides drinking water to all the villages along the Suez Canal. Baedeker, Egypt, p. 180. As the Suez force lumbered towards Sinai, the 100,000-man Ottoman 3rd Army was fighting the Russians inside the Russian border at Sarıkamıs¸ in late December. Enver, who personally commanded the campaign, hoped to recover Kars, Ardahan and Batum, the three provinces seized by Russia in 1878, and open a route to Afghanistan and India. Thanks to Russian tenacity, brutal winter weather and difficult terrain, only 18,000 men returned, crippling Turkish defenses against Russian attack for the rest of the war. Rogan, Fall, pp. 99 – 114.

Chapter 2

1915

1. Doctor Minna Weizmann, whom Pru¨fer later recruited as a spy by April 1915. 2. A large commemorative mosque erected at the traditional location of the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron, burial place of the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Karl Baedeker, Pala¨stina und Syrien: nebst den Hauptrouten durch Mesopotamien und Babylonien, Leipzig, Germany, 1904, pp. 103–105. 3. The first Djemal reference is likely Ahmet Djemal, since the second-referenced Djemal appears with Kress, Mersinli Djemal’s chief of staff.

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4. French: cross-legged. J.E. Mansion, ed., Mansion’s Shorter French and English Dictionary, Boston, MA, 1947, p. 656. 5. A village in the Judean mountains between Beersheba and Hebron. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, p. 151 6. Sharif ‘Abdullah ibn Husayn (1882 – 1951), son of Sharif Husayn and Ottoman deputy for Mecca. Later rejected as leader of the Arab Revolt by T.E. Lawrence after the two met at Jidda in October 1916, ‘Abdullah later became the first king of Transjordan. Ali A. Allawi, Faisal I of Iraq, New Haven, CT, 2014, pp. 50 – 1; T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York, NY, 1935, p. 67; Spencer Tucker, Laura Matysek Vood, Justin D. Murphy, eds, The European Powers in the First World War, an Encyclopedia, New York, NY, 1996, p. 2. 7. ‘Abdullah, a secret Arab nationalist, had cautiously approached Lord Horatio Kitchener in Cairo in February 1914 to sound out potential British support for an uprising against the Turks by his father. Donald McKale, War by Revolution, Kent, OH, 1998, p. 42. 8. During the tenure of Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer (1841–1917), as British Consul General (1883–1907), Egypt made tremendous economic and social reforms. Nonetheless, Cromer – “El Lord” to the Egyptians – believed Egypt remained incapable of ruling itself without British guidance. Shareen Blair Brysac, Karl E. Meyer, Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East, New York, NY, 2008, pp. 29–33, 53–4; McKale, War, pp. 31, 41. 9. The person who calls Muslims to prayer five times a day. Karl Baedeker, Egypt and the Sudan, Leipzig, Germany, 1914, p. lxxxvii. 10. Arabic: God is greatest, the first phrase that occurs in the Muslim muezzin’s call to prayer. Ibid. 11. Arabic: praise be to God, a common Arabic expression saying express relief or elation. Hans Wehr, Milton Cowan, ed., A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Wiesbaden, Germany, 1980, p. 238. 12. Lieutenant Colonel Ali Fuad Bey, commander of the 25th Division. Ahmet Djemal, Memoirs of a Turkish Statesman, New York, NY, 1922, p. 148. 13. Turkish: Bu¨yu¨k Cemal, i.e., Ahmet Djemal, as opposed to Mersinli Djemal. M. Talha C¸ic ek, War and State Formation in Syria: Cemal Pasha’s Governate During World War I, 1914– 1917, New York, NY, 2014, p. 193. 14. A village and depot halfway between Beersheba and Hafir. Djemal, p. 149; Friedrich, Baron Kress von Kressenstein, Mit den Tu¨rken zum Suezkanal, Berlin, Germany 1938, maps (back cover). 15. The expedition traveled at night as much as possible to avoid detection by enemy planes and the daytime heat. Kress, p. 87. 16. Another member of the Fast family from Jerusalem. 17. The Tripoli Volunteer Detachment, which formed in Syria after the Balkan Wars. Jerusalem Quarterly, Summer 2016, Issue 66, Polat Safi, “Mirage in the Sands: the Ottoman Special Organization on the Sinai – Palestine Front”, p. 43.

NOTES

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249

18. The expedition marched south-west across central Sinai, from Hafir al ‘Awja on the border across Wadi ‘Arish, and into a trough between the northern Jabal Maghara mountain chain and the south mountain chain consisting of Jabal Hellal, Jabal Yelleg and Jabal Umm Muksheib. The trough emerges 30 – 40 miles east of the central section of the Suez Canal. The Times of London, History of the War, Vol. 10, London, UK, 1917, p. 368. 19. Jabal Hellal, a mountain in northeastern Sinai 20 miles from Hafir al ‘Awja, possibly the biblical Mount Sinai. Gerald A. Larue, Old Testament Life and Literature, Boston, MA, 1968, p. 85; Times History, Vol. 10, p. 368. 20. Djemal Pasha had a string of depots built – including Ibni (Jabal Libni on Wadi el ‘Arish’s west bank, ten miles north-west of Jabal Hellal) – 25– 30 kilometers apart along the line of advance between Beersheba and ‘Isma’iliyeh, each supplied with water and a hospital. Djemal, pp. 148–9. 21. A town with a well on northern Sinai’s ancient coastal caravan route, 35 miles east of the canal. Jean-Pierre Isbouts, The Biblical World: An Illustrated Atlas, Washington, DC, 2007, p. 89; Times, History, Vol. 10, p. 368. 22. Lieutenant Stephen White, a British officer formerly of the Egyptian police. British intelligence in Cairo sent him to glean information from Sinai’s bedouins, recruit agents and spread propaganda. He was the first British soldier to be captured by the Turks in the war. Yigal Sheffy, British Military Intelligence in the Palestine Campaign, 1914 – 1918, Oxon, UK, 1998, pp. 78 – 9. 23. Lake Bardawil, a large, 60-mile-long saltwater lagoon on Sinai’s north coast extending eastward from al Muhammadiyeh. M.A. Zahran, A.J. Willis, The Vegetation of Egypt, Berlin, Germany, 2008, p. 218. 24. A German military decoration. Spencer C. Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts, eds, The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social and Military History, Santa Barbara, CA, 2005, p. 769. 25. Bir el Hamma, a well 20 miles south-west of Jabal Libni equipped with a depot. Avraham Lewensohn, Israel Tourguide, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1979, p. 119; Theodor Wiegand, Sinai, Berlin, Germany, 1920, p. 22. 26. Jabal Maghara. Times, History, Vol. 10, p. 368. 27. El Hemmen, a hill five miles south of Bir el Hamma. Ibid. 28. Ahmet Djemal. 29. Bir Rawdh Salem, where the westward road from Bir el Hamma intersected with the southward road from Jabal Maghara. Times, History, Vol. 10, p. 368. 30. A massif ridge north of the Great Bitter Lake through which the canal had to be cut. Baedeker, Egypt, p. 186. 31. Bir Gifgafa, an oasis and water supply depot south of the Jabal Maghara and 12 miles south-west of Chabra I. Times History, Vol. 10, p. 368. 32. Water cisterns stood at Moiya Harab, at the south-west corner of the Jabal ‘Umm Mukshaib and south of the Wadi ‘Umm Mukshaib. E. G. Keogh,

250

33.

34. 35.

36.

37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42.

43.

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Suez to Aleppo, Melbourne, Australia, 1955, p. 20; Times, History, Vol. 10, p. 368. Captain Gerlach commanded Pionierbataillon 8, tasked with bridging the canal with pontoon boats. Jan Christoph Reichmann, ‘Tapfere Askers’ und ‘Feige Araber’: Der osmanische Verbu¨ndete aus der Sicht deutscher Soldaten im Orient, 1914– 1918, Mu¨nster, Germany, 2009, pp. 180, 257– 8. Ten miles west of Gifgafa, under the south-west corner of Jabal Maghara. Kress, back cover (map). Kataib el Khayl, a cluster of sand dunes east of the canal’s central section between Isma’iliyeh and Tussun, where expedition forces mustered and the expedition’s six gun batteries subsequently took position. The New York Times, The New York Times Current History: the European War, Vol. 2, April 1916– September 1916, New York, NY, 1915, pp. 85, 88; Petroleum Research: Bulletin, Issue 10, 1921, p. 24. A French Nieuport seaplane detachment manned by French pilots and English observers was based at Port Sa’id. Ste´phane Nicolaou, Flying Boats & Seaplanes: a History from 1905, Devon, UK, 1998, p. 52. Pru¨fer’s older sister Helene. Donald McKale, Curt Pru¨fer: German Diplomat from the Kaiser to Hitler, Kent, OH, 1987, p. 3. Near ar-Righm, a small lake ten miles west of the Jabal ‘Umm Mukshaib mountain chain. Times, History, p. 368 (map). A Turkish regimental commander. Reichmann, p. 268. French: disaster. Mansion, p. 185. A small village on the canal’s west bank just south of Lake Timsa near Kataib al Khayl. Baedeker, Egypt, p. 186. The Gondos force found at-Tur too heavily garrisoned to capture when they arrived 19 January. In fire-fights lasting through the 24th, the Gondos group seized wells and the town’s surrounding hills, and trapped the British garrison in the town’s quarantine station. Dwindling provisions and British naval gunfire forced the group to withdraw, but not before Gondos bombed several oil bore holes at Ra’s Gemsa on 9 February. Peter Jung, Der k.u.k. Wu¨stenkrieg: O¨sterreich –Ungarn im Vorderen Orient 1915– 1918, Vienna, Austria, 1992, pp. 25 – 6. Thirty-thousand British Commonwealth troops (Britons, Indians, Gurkhas, Egyptians and New Zealanders) faced the expeditionary force along the 100-mile-long canal front. Fortified posts dotted the east bank. Along the west bank ran a network of trenches. The defenders deployed artilleryequipped armored trains as fast troop transports and mobile artillery batteries, and French and British warships in Lake Timsa and the Great Bitter Lake as mobile floating gun batteries. Torpedo boats, armed tugs, launches and canal hoppers equipped with search lights patrolled the canal from top to bottom. Over the Front, Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 1998, Dieter Gro¨schel, Ju¨rgen Ladek, “Wings Over Sinai and Palestine”, p. 4; Stuart Hadaway, Pyramids and Fleshpots: the Egyptian, Sanussi and Eastern Mediterranean Campaigns,

NOTES

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51. 52.

TO PAGES

72 –77

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1914– 1916, Stroud, UK, 2015, pp. 58 – 60, 170– 1; Paul Halpern, A Naval History of World War I, Annapolis, MD, 2012, p. 108. The night of the attack, some Tripolitanian volunteers disobeyed orders for silence by shouting battle slogans just before the attack. Guard dogs chained at intervals along the east bank to detect enemy troop movements began barking, drawing gunfire from the defenders. Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans: the Great War in the Middle East, Philadelphia, PA, 2015, pp. 120 – 2. Bir el Hassana at the east end of the central Sinai route, an important well site at the crossroads pointing to an-Nakhl in the south. F.M. Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914 – 1918, Sussex, UK, 2012, p. 53. One of Palestine German Moritz Hall’s 13 children, another of whom, Salomon, spied for Pru¨fer later in 1915. Paul Hommel, Jakob Eisler, Norbert Haag, Sabine Holtz, Kultureller Wandel in Pala¨stina im fru¨hen 20. Jahrhundert, Epfendorf, Germany, 2003, pp. 111 – 14. Dr Peter Mu¨hlens, a physician and tropical disease researcher, worked as an army hygienist, for the Turks, and later (1915 –18) for the Bulgarians. Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 18, Berlin, Germany, 1997, p. 285. Carl Koch, antiquities collector and leader of Aleppo’s German expatriate community. His wife Martha Koch, a close friend of von der Goltz, spoke fluent Arabic and frequently entertained German officers passing through the city. The Kochs made strenuous efforts throughout 1915 to rescue Armenian deportees. Alfred Bock, Werner Bock, Tagebu¨cher, Heidelberg, Germany, 1959, pp. 41 – 2; Hilmar Kaiser, At the Crossroads of Der Zor: Death, Survival, and Humanitarian Resistance, Princeton, NJ, 2002, pp. 53, 92, 93. With Djemal Pasha’s approval, the American Red Cross and the Syrian Protestant College in Beirut established a 220-bed surgical battlefield hospital for expedition casualties at Hafir, led by Dr Edwin St John Ward. Jerusalem Quarterly, 2015, Issue 63/64, Vicken V. Kalbian, “Photographic Memories: the Field Hospital of Hafir el Auja and US – Ottoman Relations”, pp. 54 – 71. A 3 March 1915 postscript to this report’s cover letter to Wangenheim from Kress in Jerusalem says: “Urgently request the embassy to arrange it so that Dr Pru¨fer remains assigned to me. He is essential to me as leader of the intelligence service and interpreter. Furthermore, the current handling of public opinion is more necessary than ever.” NARA, T137/23. A village on the canal’s west bank between Qantara and Isma’iliyeh. Baedeker, Egypt, pp. 185– 6. A town on the canal north of its entry into the Great Bitter Lake, 2.5 miles south of Serapeum. Georges Douin, Un Episode de la Guerre Mondiale: L’Attaque du Canal de Suez, Paris, France, 1922, p. 66.

252

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78 – 81

53. Many Germans complained about Arab “cowardice”, and ascribed greed and lack of patriotism to them. Reichmann, p. 257– 9. 54. The real reasons behind the lackluster Egyptian response to calls for revolt were more complex than this. Chatter in Egypt during the war’s opening weeks was quite pro-German, thanks to propaganda spread by remaining German and Turkish agents, plus the resentment many Egyptians felt for their British overlords. Openly seditious talk began disappearing with the onset of German difficulties on the Western Front in autumn 1914 and the arrival of tens of thousands of British commonwealth troops in Egypt. Britain’s grip on public order tightened even further with the declaration of martial law (2 November), the establishment of British protectorate status finally ending the legal fiction of Egypt’s Ottoman vassalhood (18 December), the formal deposition of khedive Abbas Hilmi II and elevation of his uncle, the proBritish Husayn Kamil Pasha, as sultan of Egypt (19 December), and the introduction of stringent press censorship. An even bigger incentive for Egyptians to keep the peace came from public British pledges of supporting postwar independence if Egyptians forebore from causing trouble or hindering the British war effort. In a published letter to Sultan Husayn on 19 December 1914, acting High Commissioner of Egypt Sir Milne Cheetham stated that the British government was “convinced that the clearer definition of Great Britain’s position in the country will accelerate progress towards selfgovernment.” American journalist Herbert Adams Gibbons, during a trip to Egypt in early 1916, wrote that “leading Egyptians . . . talked of nothing else but their emancipation as a result of the World War.” So, throughout the war, quiet reigned in Egypt, but as Egyptians would realize after the war, the hoped-for payoff would not come until more than a generation later. M.W. Daly, ed., The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. 2, Cambridge, UK, 1998, pp. 247– 8; Herbert Adams Gibbons, Great Britain in Egypt, New York, NY, 1920, pp. 97 – 107; Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., Historical Dictionary of Egypt, Plymouth, UK, 2010, pp. 23 – 5; W.T. Massey, The Desert Campaigns, New York, NY, 1918, pp. 1 – 4; McKale, War, pp. 92, 209; Times, History, Vol. 3, pp. 299, 304– 305, 310; Arthur Edward Pearse Weigall, A History of Events in Egypt from 1798 to 1914, New York, NY, 1915, p. 299. 55. NARA, T137/23. 56. French traveler Charles Franc ois Marie commented in 1893 that Egyptians lacked the bravery to die in battle, a passivity born of centuries of foreign domination, and that even good military training could not transform “a subject, miserable and cowardly people into brilliant (robust) and courageous troops.” Egyptian writer Qasim ‘Amin retorted in 1894 that a people with a nation to die for would fight more courageously than one ruled by foreigners. Wilson Chacko Jacob, Working Out Egypt: Effendi Masculinity and Subject Formation in Colonial Modernity, 1870–1940, Durham, NC, 2011, pp. 59–60. 57. This despite financial inducements the Germans lavished upon Syrian and Palestinian Arab recruits, which Enver complained bitterly to Wangenheim

NOTES

58. 59.

60. 61.

62.

63. 64.

65.

66. 67.

68.

69.

TO PAGES

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was an attempt to steal their loyalty and establish “some kind of protectorate” inside the Empire. McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 39. French: dash, spirit. Mansion, p. 214. T.E. Lawrence said this about working with bedouins: “While very difficult to drive, the Bedu are easy to lead, if you have the patience to bear with them. They are willing to follow your advice and do what you wish, but they do not mean you or anyone else be aware of that.” The Arab Bulletin, No. 60, 20 August 1917, pp. 347– 53. Wehr, Cowan, p. 143. Arabic: warriors, fighters. The Germans also complained about the laziness and incompetence of Turkish officers, even while admiring the fighting quality of the Turkish soldier. Reichmann, pp. 237, 241– 2, 266– 9. As Pru¨fer was writing these lines, preparations for a second expedition had already commenced. Laborers of the new Desert Line of Communication Inspectorate began building a road connecting all advance camps between Beersheba and ‘Isma’iliyeh, equipping each with wells, hospitals and depots. Kress’ new Desert Force Headquarters command based in Ibni would provide force protection, while conducting recon and harassment operations against canal positions. 1915 was truly to be, in Djemal Pasha’s words, “the year of preparation and consolidation.” Djemal, p. 167. NARA, T137/24. The British defeated Sanussi leader Sayyid ‘Ahmad as-Sannusi’s bedouin forces in fighting at the Egyptian– Libyan border in late 1915 and early 1916. ‘Ahmad’s successor, his cousin Muhammad ‘Idris as-Sanussi, was pro-Entente, and the halt of hostilities freed up the 35,000 British troops tied down by the fighting for service elsewhere. McKale, War, pp. 147, 150– 1, 176, 190. Worried about the pan-Islamist threat to Egypt, British officials in Cairo carefully avoided actions that would provoke fighting with the Sanussis at the border. Ibid., p. 93. Latin: pursuit of goodwill. Sultan Husayn’s son, the pro-Turkish Prince Kamal ad-Din Husayn, stood next in line for the throne, but when Husayn died in 1917, the British passed over Kamal in favor of his pro-British uncle ‘Ahmad Fuad. R.J.M. Pugh, Wingate Pasha: The Life of General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, 1861– 1953, Barnsley, UK, 2011, p. 182. The British actually suffered 150 casualties. Stephen Pope, ElizabethAnne Wheal, eds, Dictionary of the First World War, Barnsley, UK, 2003, p. 457. T.E. Lawrence described the Turkish rail transport system (the Hijaz Railway and the Afuleh – Beisan line in Palestine converging at Dera’a south of Damascus) as “the navel of the Turkish armies in Syria”, making it a ripe target for demolition by Lawrence and the Arab insurgents. Lawrence, pp. 285, 385; David R. Woodward, Hell in the Holy Land: World War I in the Middle East, Lexington, KY, 2006, p. 201.

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70. Contrast this with T.E. Lawrence’s approach to handling the bedouin: listen, learn, know your place as an outsider, be respectful and unobtrusive. “Do not try to do too much with your own hands”, he advised. “Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not to win it for them.” Beyond all else, Lawrence said, “If we are tactful, we can at once retain . . . goodwill and carry out our job.” Arab Bulletin, No. 60, 20 August 1917, pp. 347– 53. 71. NARA, T139/457. 72. This is the date according to the Islamic lunar calendar, AH (Anno Hijri) as opposed to AD (Anno Domini). It corresponds to 19 February 1915 in the Gregorian calendar. Shahabuddin Ansari, A Compendium of Muslim and Christian Dates, Delhi, India, 2005, pp. 37, 64. 73. Captain William Shakespear (1878–1915), desert explorer and British political agent in Kuwait, advocated supporting Ibn Sa’ud as the premiere power in Arabia. Shakespear’s later treaty negotiations with the Arab prince were cut short after his death in battle on 24 January 1915 at Jabbar near az-Zulfi. His successor, British Arabist Harry St John Philby, maintained that if Shakespear had lived, Ibn Sa’ud and Shakespear, not Sharif Husayn and Lawrence, would have led the Arab revolt. Saudi Aramco World, September/October 2002, Vol. 53, No. 5, “The Captain and the King”, Peter Harrigan, pp. 12–21. 74. A Najdi town, 150 miles north-west of Riyadh in Arabia. Hugh Chisholm, ed., Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, Vol. XIX, London, UK, 1911, p. 351. 75. This letter in French was addressed to Djemal Pasha. NARA, T137/24. 76. Many of Palestine’s 85,000 Jews had recently fled pogroms in the Russian Empire (1903– 6). These refugees’ hatred of Russia created fertile ground for recruiting spies sympathetic to the Central Powers cause. McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 1, 40– 3. 77. Rome stood on a major north-south line of travel for British forces going to and from the Middle East, perfect for use by enemy agents slipping into British rear areas. Ferdinand Tuohy, The Secret Corps: A Tale of “Intelligence” on All Fronts, New York, NY, 1920, p. 35. 78. The Mosseris, an Egyptian Jewish family in Cairo originally from Italy, were influential bankers and leaders in Cairo’s Jewish community. The Qattawis were also bankers, members of the Egyptian parliament and leaders in the Cairo community. The Rolos and the de Menasces (Sephardic Jews from Palestine and Morocco) were also powerful banking dynasties in Cairo. Gudrun Kra¨mer, The Jews in Modern Egypt, 1914– 1952, London, UK, 1989, pp. 38 – 9, 41 – 3, 76, 185. 79. NARA, T137/24/82. 80. Dismayed at the holy war’s poor results, the AA sent Oppenheim to the Middle East in April 1915 to revitalize the effort. He spent several months establishing a network of propaganda “news rooms” in Ottoman cities and courting Sharif Husayn’s cooperation in the propaganda war. Pru¨fer

NOTES

81. 82.

83. 84. 85.

86.

87. 88. 89.

90. 91.

TO PAGES

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remained in Jerusalem, though, to continue building his spy ring. McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 43 – 7; Sean McMeekin, The Berlin – Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power, Cambridge, MA , 2010, pp. 191 –200. NARA, T137/138/733. Sanussi inaction in Libya convinced the Germans they needed to stir up trouble in neighboring Sudan and Abyssinia. Led by German adventurer Leo Frobenius, an expedition left Constantinople 2 December 1914, disguised as Turkish Muslims. Instead of heading to Abyssinia, Frobenius wasted weeks gathering intelligence and distributing anti-British propaganda throughout Red Sea coastal areas. When Frobenius’ grandstanding attracted the unwelcome attention of the Italians, the Germans recalled him, provoking tremendous recrimination from his team members. McMeekin, pp. 142, 143, 145– 51. Modern-day Ethiopia. Collier and Sons, The New Encyclopedic Atlas & Gazeteer of the World, New York, NY, 1918, p. 80. Frobenius was deported from Italian Eritrea in March 1915 to Berlin via Rome. McMeekin, p. 151 Team member Salomon Hall (1879– 1964), born in the German colony at Jaffa of mixed German – Ethiopian parentage. In November 1915, Italian police arrested Hall while traveling to deliver messages to German and Turkish diplomats trapped in Addis Ababa. Hall’s father, Moritz Hall, ran the Hotel du Parc, where the kaiser and his wife stayed during their visit to Jaffa in 1898, and worked at the German consulate in Jaffa as an interpreter. Svein Ege, Harald Aspen, Birhanu Teferra, Shiferaw Bekele, eds, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Trondheim, Norway, 2009, pp. 109– 17; Heinrich Scholler, Recht und Politik in A¨thiopien, Berlin, Germany, 2008, pp. 46 – 8. Major Red Sea port city and former capital of Italian Eritrea (1885– 97). Bearman et al., “Eritrea”, E. Ullendorff, Encyclopedia of Islam, 2nd edition, accessed 18 March 2017. Mir Sa’id of the ‘Abd al Qadir family. Hall spoke Arabic, and thanks to his ethnically mixed heritage, looked sufficiently African/Arab-looking to pull off the impersonation. Scholler, p. 49. An Anglo– French naval force attempted to force the Dardanelles by bombardment in February and March 1915. On 25 April 1915, Entente forces launched the first of many amphibious landings on the Dardanelles peninsula, a disastrous attempt to capture Constantinople by land that would drag on through December. Pope, Wheal, pp. 128– 9, 185; Tucker, Powers, pp. 209 –12. A British naval force thrashed a German flotilla near Heligoland Bight off Germany’s North Sea coast on 28 August 1914. Pope, Wheal, pp. 226– 7. No HMS Union fought at Heligoland Bight or was in service anywhere during the war. No British ships were sunk in the engagement. Apparently, the

256

92. 93.

94. 95.

96.

97.

98.

99.

NOTES

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91 – 92

British seaman, if he really was one, was playing Hall as well. J.J. Colledge, Ben Warlow, Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present, London, UK, 2006, pp. 365 –6. PAAA, R21146/Der Weltkrieg no.11g secr./Band 3. The presence of Entente nationals and foreigners trapped by travel restrictions made Jerusalem a less conducive environment to utilizing POWs for propaganda purposes than Damascus. NARA, T137/136. A report by the US War Department’s Military Intelligence Division (MID) revealed that Pru¨fer and his spies Rothschild, Weizmann and Cohn, traveled with American passports, posing as Americans when it suited them. Moses Rothschild himself betrayed this information to the MID in 1918. NARA, RG165, Entry 67, Box 298, folder PF-20547, 2 August 1918, Biddle to Churchill. Moses Rothschild (1884 – ?) was “an enthusiastic Zionist” according to the MID, and was, as Rothschild himself confessed, determined “to strike Russia via Berlin” in revenge for its antisemitic pogroms. Born in Jerusalem, Rothschild emigrated to America in 1890, then returned to Palestine in March 1914, where he served as chief of a small-town bedouin police force near Jaffa. Schmidt, the German consul in Jerusalem, who knew of Rothschild’s anti-Russian sentiments, recruited him as a spy. NARA, RG165, Entry 67, Box 298, folder PF-20547, unsigned 10 May 1919 document; 9 July 1918, Rothschild to MID; 22 July 1918, Baker to Churchill; 19 July 1918, Churchill to Intelligence Officer, Northeastern Department. Jack Cohn, born in 1883 in Jerusalem, emigrated to the United States in 1892, returning to Palestine in March 1914. He worked as a double agent for both British and German intelligence. Before departing to Egypt, he gathered information about railroad routes and German and Syrian troop, artillery and camel transport concentrations in Palestine, according to a 21 April 1915 British intelligence report. While waiting for his departure, Cohn apparently stayed at the Hotel Fast in Jerusalem, which was, according to Cohn, “full of [German officers], including a prince who does nothing but play with dogs.” NARA, RG165, Entry 65, Box 2933, File 10214 –412, 23 April 1919, Churchill to US Military Attache, Cairo; NAK, WO 157/690, 21 April 1915. Dr Minna Weizmann (1889–1925), a Byelorussian Jewish doctor, emigrated to Palestine in 1913. Her older brother, chemist Chaim Weizmann, worked for Britain’s war industries, and later became a Zionist lobbyist extraordinaire, and Israel’s first president. Pru¨fer family lore claims that Curt Pru¨fer carried on an affair with Minna. Luise Hirsch, From the Shtetl to the Lecture Hall: Jewish Women and Cultural Exchange, Lanham, MD, 2013, p. 268; McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 42–3, 203, 204. Pru¨fer’s spy ring constituted a separate intelligence organization from the Turks’ intelligence system, reporting directly to the Germans throughout the war.

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100. No addressee. PAAA, R21131/Der Weltkrieg, no.11g/Band 9. 101. German Cairene businessman Gustav Mez had personal ties to his spy handler, Pru¨fer’s German Arabist colleague Paul Kahle (1875 – 1964), who used Mez to ascertain facts for Kahle’s writings on Egyptian shadow plays. Also, Mez passionately supported scientific activities in Egypt and Germany, giving him a network of association connections easily exploitable for gathering intelligence. Jahreshefte des Vereins fu¨r vaterla¨ndische Naturkunde in Wu¨rttemberg, Vol. 61, 1905, p. 383 and Vol. 63, 1907, p. xlii; Orientalisches Archiv, Vol. 3, 1913, Paul Kahle-Halle, “Das islamische Schattentheater in A¨gypten”, pp. 103, 107; Ursula Woko¨ck, German Orientalism: The Study of the Middle East and Islam from 1800 to 1945, New York, NY, 2009, p. 225. 102. Both sides conducted espionage activities in neutral Switzerland during the war. McKale, War, pp. 54, 118, 119, 196– 9. 103. British-built Red Sea coastal port in Sudan. Westward lies the harsh Nubian Desert, crossed by a rail line connecting to another railway paralleling the Nile. Ibid. 104. This Nile River town 200 miles north-east of Khartoum was the starting point for caravans traveling eastwards across the Nubian Desert to Suwakin on the Red Coast, 250 miles away. Britannica, 11th edition, Vol. 26, p. 11. 105. Nile River town in north-east Sudan at the southern end of the railway going northward to Wadi Halfa across the Nubian Desert. Ibid., Vol. 1, p. 78. 106. Nile River town south of the Egyptian border at the northern terminus of the Sudan Railway stretching from Abu Hamad across the Nubian Desert, and southernmost stop for the Nile steamboat service connecting with the Egyptian railway at Aswan. Ibid., Vol. 28, p. 228. 107. Northern Sudanese Nile town, the inhabitants of which were considered “the keenest traders in the country.” Ibid., Vol. 26, pp. 11, 17. 108. Possibly because Dunqula had been racked with a famine in 1913 and 1914. Hugh Chisholm, ed., Encyclopedia Britannica, 12th edition, Vol. 32, London, UK, 1922, p. 615. 109. Wingate worried about the reliability of the Egyptian army, Sudan’s primary defense force, after signs of disaffection surfaced following the Turks’ declaration of war, which Wingate attributed to enemy propaganda. He responded with censorship, deportation, supervision of enemy nationals and a counter-propaganda campaign. M.W. Daly, The Sirdar: Sir Reginald Wingate and the British Empire in the Middle East, Philadelphia, PA, 1997, pp. 203 –4. 110. The Germans tried recruiting Lala Har Dayal (1884 – 1939), Indian nationalist and Hindu extremist, for stirring up anti-British sentiment among Indian Muslims. McKale, War, pp. 78, 127. 111. While undated, this letter to the AA would have been written between the first Gallipoli landing and the arrival of the first Anzac casualties in Egypt.

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112. The harsh, barely passable Nubian Desert drastically limited safe, available transport routes. Cut one route, and you’d be cut off indeed. Britannica, 11th edition, Vol. 26, p. 11. 113. NARA, T137/24. 114. NARA, T137/24/Band 9. 115. British Territorial Forces, the British army’s reserve force consisting of volunteers, local county militias and yeomanry. David G. Chandler, Ian Frederick William Beckett, eds, The Oxford History of the British Army, Oxford, UK, 1994, p. 203. 116. Algerian sharpshooters in the French army. The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 47, January – June 1900, Paul Bettelheim, “The French Army”, p. 687. 117. Many of these were future commanders of Entente forces at Gallipoli: General Robert Carruthers (deputy adjutant and quartermaster general of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZAC); General William Birdwood (ANZAC senior commander); General Harold “Hooky” Walker (ANZAC chief of staff); General Albert d’Amade (commander of the French contingent, the Corps Expe´ditionnaire d’Orient); General Sir John Maxwell (1859 – 1929), commanded British forces in Egypt (1914) and the Suez Canal defenses (1915). Edward J. Erickson, Gallipoli: Command Under Fire, New York, NY, 2015, p. 132; Ian Hamilton, Gallipoli Diary, Vol. 1, New York, NY, 1920, p. 142; Peter Hart, Gallipoli, London, UK, 2011, pp. 47, 51; Tucker, Roberts, Encyclopedia, p. 763. 118. A famed, opulent European-style hotel frequented by high society mavens of both East and West, and European military officers. Shepheard’s was, in the words of Ferdinand Tuohy, “one of the happiest spying grounds, in the eavesdropping sense, which the war produced.” Germany’s spies may have gained cooperation from the staff at Shepheard’s, including a hall porter named Maurer, whom the British fingered as a German spy in a 13 June 1916 intelligence report. NAK, FO 371/2672, 13 June 1916; Tuohy, p. 177. 119. Bernhard Heinrich Martin Carl, Count von Bu¨low (1849 – 1929), German ambassador to Rome. Carl Cavanagh Hodge, ed., Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800– 1914, Westport, CT, 2008, p. 119. 120. PAAA, R21134, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 12. 121. Throughout the war’s first year, Palestine suffered a devastating locust invasion, famine, an Anglo – French naval blockade of the Levantine coast, disease, and skyrocketing food prices. M. Talha C¸ic ek, Syria in World War I, Politics, Economy and Society, New York, NY, 2016, p. 131; Jerusalem Quarterly, Vol. 56 (Winter/Spring 2014), Stephanie Wichhart, “The 1915 Locust Plague in Palestine”, pp. 29 – 39. 122. A supporter of Mustafa Kemal Atatu¨rk recalled after the war that “German officers were arrogant, unmindful of our feelings and so sure of victory that they became careless of speech, and from their talk, Mustapha Kemal felt certain that Turkey would have to pay the cost of victory for Germany.” Asia, the American Magazine on the Orient, Vol. 22, March 1922, Demetra Vaka, “Conversation with a Kemalist”, p. 205.

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123. Djemal’s Turkification program blackened the mood in Jerusalem, as did the commandeering of religious buildings for military purposes, mail censorship and food and petroleum shortages. Widespread pro-Entente sympathies among Jerusalemites made the city, in Kress’ view, “a breeding ground for intrigues.” Kress, pp. 101– 2, 114– 15. 124. German – Turkish friction sometimes erupted in violence, such as this incident reported in July 1916 by Britain’s Middle East intelligence agency, the Arab Bureau: “Agent witnessed a scene in a Pera restaurant between a German and a Turkish officer, which ended by the German slapping the Turk in the face and having him arrested by a German patrol.” Arab Bulletin, No. 12, 19 July 1916, p. 2. 125. Throughout early 1915, Enver stripped away several 4th Army units to reinforce the Dardanelles and Mesopotamian fronts, leaving only twelve battalions available for the Sinai front by late summer. This further delayed the new expedition. Djemal, p. 167. 126. At Kress’ Desert Force base in Sinai, temperatures reached 50 degrees Centrigade in the shade by mid-May. Kress, p. 114. 127. Djemal Pasha originally intended to launch the second expedition by fall 1915, a timetable already impossible to keep. Ibid., p. 101. 128. Pinprick skirmishes, sniper attacks and attempts to mine the canal had been ongoing since February. Hadaway, p. 65. 129. The defensive line in northeastern Sinai that the Turks and Germans maintained as the future jumping-off point for another expedition. Ibid. 130. Pru¨fer later discovered that some mail censorship in Ottoman territory was being conducted by German military censors. Neurath to Pru¨fer, 8 June 1915, PAAA, R21134, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 12. 131. NARA, T137/24/Band 12. 132. Drunken, belligerent Anzac troops rioted in Cairo just before departing for Gallipoli in April 1915, causing five injuries, 50 arrests and the destruction of several houses. Similar riots occurred again in July. Rogan, Fall, pp. 92 – 3. 133. Paranoia about amphibious landings on the Levantine coast plagued the Turks throughout the entire war. The British considered landing at Alexandretta, but French objections over their own postwar imperial ambitions in Syria torpedoed it in February 1915. The Turks, still fearing the seaborne threat, redeployed large numbers of Palestine-based troops into northern Syria and southern Anatolia. British leaders reconsidered the Alexandretta landing in October and November 1915, hoping it might salvage Entente prestige damaged by the failed Gallipoli campaign and deny pan-Islamist propagandists a win. The French rejected it again. Even when amphibious landing plans were off the table, though, British intelligence continued cultivating the perception of imminent landing operations. Rothschild was possibly getting fed deliberate misinformation. Ronald Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn and the Roots of the Arab–Israeli Conflict, New York, NY, 2007, pp. 150–1; Sheffy, pp. 35, 47, 76, 106, 110–12, 119–20, 205, 263.

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134. The 200-mile rail line from Aleppo in north-west Syria down to Riyaq, Lebanon, which connected to the rail systems northward in Anatolia. Arthur Ruppin, Syria, an Economic Survey, New York, NY, 1918, p. 76. 135. Persia’s weak central government and its strategic location between British India and the Russian and Ottoman empires made it a battleground for all parties concerned. The Turks made moves to annex parts of Persia between winter 1914 and spring 1915, but the Russians coming down from the north pushed them back. The British in the south primarily aimed to protect the oil fields at the head of the Persian Gulf. Spencer C. Tucker, ed., World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, p. 1240. 136. The British invaded Mesopotamia on 7 November 1914 to divert attacks away from the Suez Canal and to protect British oil production facilities near Basra. Their progress up the Tigris River bogged down in first half of the war. Ibid., p. 1076. 137. Lake Van just inside the eastern Ottoman border, 200 miles west of Tabriz, Persia. Collier, p. 145. 138. Midia, east of Adrianople on the south-west Black Sea coast near Constantinople, and Enos on the north-east Aegean coast of Thrace northwest of the Dardanelles formed the endpoints of the negotiated Bulgarian – Ottoman truce line at the end of the Balkan wars in 1913. Constantine Stephanove, The Question of Thrace, Bern, Switzerland, 1919, p. 23. 139. In late May, Georg Gondos and three others boarded a vessel lying on the Great Bitter Lake and blew up its boiler. Kress, p. 120. 140. After four spying trips to Egypt, Rothschild went to Berlin in December 1915, then Vienna and Bern after April 1917. Once Russia exited the war following the Menshevik revolution of March 1917, and America declared war on Germany in April, Rothschild decided his work for Germany was done. In June 1918, he returned home to America, where he confessed his past activities in the Middle East to the MID. NARA, RG165, Entry 67, Box 298: 19 July 1918, Churchill to Intelligence Officer, Northeastern Department, MID; 19 July 1918, Rothschild to MID. 141. NARA, T137/24. 142. In mid-1915, Cohn reached Zu¨rich, Switzerland destitute after an espionage trip to Egypt. Throughout June, he pestered American consuls in Zu¨rich and St Gall to forward pleas for traveling funds to friends and relatives, including his uncle Ephraim Cohn, director of the Hilfsverein der Deutschen Juden (Aid Association of German Jews) in Jerusalem. By late July, Cohn was in Berlin receiving funds to return to Palestine via Vienna. Cohn didn’t surface again until his arrest in Cairo as a suspected German spy in April 1919. Several letters in NARA, RG84, Entry 955, Vol. 171; NARA, RG165, Entry 65, Box 2933, File 10214 – 412, 16 April 1919, Brewster to MID; NARA, T137/24/730; PAAA, R21136, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 14, 15 September 1915, Zimmermann to AA.

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143. A flood of foreign nationals left the Ottoman Levant through late 1914, but after Ottoman authorities closed Syrian and Palestinian ports on 28 December 1914, refugee traffic slowed to a crawl. In subsequent months, most refugees (most of whom were Jews) left on a few commercial ships that continued making stops along the Mediterranean coast, such as this Italian steamer, the managing company of which ran a Jaffa–Alexandria route. Cohn secured passage on this ship posing as an American Jewish refugee. British authorities in Egypt were questioning incoming refugees, especially due to suspicions that the Turks had only allowed the ship to land in Palestine in order to plant spies among its passengers. NARA, RG59, Central Decimal File, 1910–29, 840.48/1613, Morgenthau to Secretary of State, 27 July 1915; Sheffy, pp. 76–7. 144. The Corsican Catoni family co-founded a shipping company in Alexandretta in 1840. Augustine Catoni was the British consul in Alexandretta (1877 – 1914), until forced to move to Egypt by the war. Lloyd’s Nautical Yearbook, London, UK, 1985, pp. 80 – 2; Sheffy, p. 38. 145. Many in Alexandria’s international police force came from the prominent Italian diaspora community established in Egypt in the early nineteenth century. Anthony Gorman, Sossie Kasbarian, eds, Diasporas of the Modern Middle East, Edinburgh, UK, 2015, pp. 138–49. 146. Henry Charles Barwick Hopkinson (1867 – 1946), a British army officer and chief of the Alexandria police. Richard Leslie Hill, Biographical Dictionary of the Sudan, London, UK, 1951, p. 166. 147. Alexander George Ingram, Alexandria’s inspector of police. Near East, Vol. 12, 1916, p. 227. 148. In 1882, Egyptian rebel forces endured a British naval bombardment in these forts at the entrance to Alexandria’s Eastern Bay, the oval-shaped area protected by two narrow land arms open on the northern side. Fort Qaitbey stands on the western harbor promontory, Fort Silsileh on the east. Charles Royle, The Egyptian Campaigns, 1882 to 1885, and the Events that Led to Them, Vol. 1, London, UK, 1886, pp. 119, 120, 126, 127, 152; Eero Sorila, Castles Old and New, Bloomington, IN, 2012, p. 3. 149. Back in February, Kress had observed (through binoculars) British troops driving Indian troops forward to the canal battlefront with whips and revolvers. Kress, pp. 93 – 4. 150. In the cover letter to Reichschancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg dated 23 August 1915, embassy counselor Ernst, Prince of HohenloheLangenberg in Constantinople wrote: “For the eventuality that Minna Weizmann falls into our hands, it is recommended that we inform our authorities and the Austrians.” NARA, T137/24. 151. Dr Kurt Ziemke, German vice-consul in Jerusalem. Antonio de la Cierva Lewita, Conde de Ballobar, Roberto Mazza, Jerusalem in World War I: The Palestine Diary of a European Diplomat, London, UK, 2010, p. 182. 152. During the Gallipoli campaign, 90,000 sick or injured British and commonwealth troops flooded hospitals in Alexandria and Cairo. The crushing

262

153.

154.

155. 156. 157.

158.

159.

160.

161.

162.

163. 164.

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casualty load overwhelmed the inadequate numbers of British doctors and volunteer nurses throughout 1915, providing a perfect open door for a spy with medical training. Lanver Mak, British in Egypt: Community, Crime and Crises, 1882–1922, London, UK, 2012, pp. 178, 187–91. The British colony of Malta had a shipyard, a prisoner of war camp and several hospitals. Uwe Jens Rudolf, Warren G. Berg, Historical Dictionary of Malta, Lanham, MD, 2010, p. 237. Deported to Russia after capture, Weizmann worked for the International Red Cross in Poland. She was released and sent to Vienna in August 1918 in exchange for Austrian and Russian prisoners, returning to Palestine after the war. Hirsch, p. 268; Puah Rakovsky, Daniel J. Goulding, My Life as a Radical Jewish Woman: Memoirs of a Zionist Feminist in Poland, Bloomington, IN, 2002, p. 127. PAAA, R21135, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 13. Djemal, p. 168; Kress, pp. 121, 124–6, 133. Stops on the strategically important Jaffa – Jerusalem Railway, which ran parallel to the Mediterranean coast from Tulqarem in northern Palestine to Ramla near Jaffa. British Naval Intelligence Division, Palestine and Transjordan, London, UK, 2006, pp. 336, 342. Confusion about the objective of attacking the canal (conquest or large-scale harassing tactic) plagued Turco– German war planners throughout the war. In postwar memoirs, many of the chief actors, including Djemal himself, claimed to have little faith in prospects for an actual conquest. It was Enver, though, who during the war was skeptical, while Djemal remained committed to a conquest well into 1917. Safi, pp. 40 – 5. Highly ironic, considering Pru¨fer’s earlier dismissal of the oft-repeated charges of Germany’s selfish designs upon Syria and Palestine. Entente forces seized Germany’s colonies in Africa (Togo, Cameroun, Namibia, Tanganyika, Burundi, Rwanda) and the Pacific (New Guinea, Samoa, Nauru and Yap) in the war’s first year. British East Africa corresponded to today’s Kenya and Uganda. Tucker, Definitive Encyclopedia, pp. 13 – 16, 1199– 200. Kress claimed that his Desert Force’s raids actually did force the worried British to maintain large troop dispositions at the canal. It also forced the temporary rerouting of shipping from many neutral nations back to the old shipping lanes around the Cape of Good Hope. Kress, pp. 103–5, 110–13, 120–1. Kress doubted this theater of war could handle supply and equipment requirements for such a large, European military contingent, and that a large German force could handle Sinai’s harsh climate. Ibid., p. 126. Djemal Pasha diverted some German-furnished war funds into city beautification, establishing new schools, erecting monuments and the like. Ibid., p. 124. PAAA, R21138, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 16. Paul, Count Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht (1853 – 1934), who replaced the late Ambassador Wangenheim in November 1915, vociferously criticized the

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Turks’ Armenian policy. On 7 December 1915, he wrote Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg demanding that the German government publicly protest the genocide. Bethmann commented on 17 December that “the proposed public reprimand . . . is unprecedented in history. Our only aim is to keep Turkey on our side until the end of the war, whether as a result Armenians do perish or not.” In the cold calculus of geopolitics, Germany’s alliance needs outweighed such moral considerations, but Metternich kept pushing. In this report’s cover letter to Bethmann dated 23 December 1915, he mentioned cabling Pru¨fer that his “list of names to Djemal Pasha [is] highly questionable. At smallest indiscretion, the population could raise accusation that we are initiating measures such as expulsion. Please in future couch your suggestions for Djemal among these points of view with more cautious restraint.” McKale, War, pp. 14, 113– 14, 164; Alan Whitehorn, ed., The Armenian Genocide: the Essential Reference Guide, Santa Barbara, CA, 2015, pp. 142, 295– 7. 165. On 21 August 1915, Djemal Pasha hanged eleven Arab nationalists in Beirut for plotting insurrection in Syria, and threatening the empire’s survival by inviting foreign intervention. The executions crippled the Arab nationalist movement in Syria, but also infuriated Arab public opinion. To soothe ruffled feathers, Djemal hatched a propaganda campaign to showcase Arab–Turkish friendship and collaboration in the Ottoman war effort. Accordingly, Djemal despatched 31 Arab Muslim clerics, journalists, intellectuals and notables to tour the Gallipoli front. ‘As’ad ash-Shuqayri led the delegation, which included Muhammad Kurd Ali, Husayn al Habbal (both of whom worked on the tour’s report, published in Beirut in 1916) and Muhammad Murad. The group met the Ottoman royals and the CUP central committee in Constantinople. Colonel Mustafa Kemal Bey and his staff then showed them around the Gallipoli battlefield. After returning to Syria in November, the participants delivered upbeat reports in mass meetings, but it was too late. Djemal’s bloody repressions had fatally damaged Arab loyalties, provoked hatred for the Germans because of their perceived support for Turkish brutality and stoked sympathy for the Entente and the Arab nationalists. This, added to the Sinai defeat, the next wave of repressions and growing resentment at Ottoman army conscription, destroyed the effectiveness of the global jihad campaign for the remainder of the war throughout the Arab provinces. Despite the outrages and hardships Arab had suffered, though, still only a few were moved to plot revolt against Constantinople. War & Society, 35:1, M. Talha C¸ic ek, “The Holy War in Syria: Cemal Pasha and the Ottoman Plan to Conquer Egypt in the First World War”, pp. 45–7; C¸ic ek, Syria, pp. 37–56, 63–81. 166. By late 1915, a perfect storm of locust plagues, conscription, war requisitioning, the Entente’s coastal blockade, government inefficiency and corrupt war profiteering brought famine to Beirut and the Mount Lebanon region, killing one-third of the area’s population over the next three years. Graham Pitts, Fallow Fields: Famine and Making of Lebanon, Washington, DC, 2016, pp. 5, 15, 30, 130.

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167. Donald McKale speculated that Pru¨fer travelled in Arab dress to blend in, but no proof for this has been found. McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 15, 46. 168. Pru¨fer correctly discerned that much of the Ententist sympathies throughout the Levant sprang from the prewar influence of western Christian missionary organizations, churches, schools and pilgrim organizations. Lebanese Christians in particular approached the governments of France, Britain, Russia and Greece requesting support for an anti-Ottoman uprising starting in August 1914. Many Lebanese were indeed anticipating liberation through a French amphibious landing. C¸ic ek, War, pp. 89–93; Eliezer Tauber, The Arab Movements in World War I, Oxon, UK, 2013, pp. 10–16. 169. The American missionary-run Syrian Protestant College, renamed the American University of Beirut in 1919, supported the Arab nationalist cause, and suffered continual harassment from Ottoman authorities throughout the war. Robert D. Kaplan, Arabists: The Romance of the American Elite, New York, NY, 1995, pp. 66 – 7. 170. A region of southwestern Russia (now Ukraine) east of Rumania. Collier, pp. 77, 86. 171. The anti-Zionist organization Der Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden (The Aid Society for German Jews) was established in Berlin in 1901 to financially assist Jews abroad and combat anti-semitism. Later, the Hilfsverein established elementary and secondary schools and a university in Palestine. During the socalled “Language Wars” in Palestine (1913– 14), Hilfversein leaders fought the Zionists to keep German as the primary language of instruction rather than Hebrew as the Zionists demanded. Actions Committee of the Zionist Organization, The Struggle for the Hebrew Language in Palestine, New York, NY, 1914, p. 46; Rafael Medoff, Chaim I. Waxman, eds, Historical Dictionary of Zionism, New York, NY, 2013, pp. 86 – 7. 172. The Hilfsverein “defined its welfare in terms of a German liberal patriotism, a strong sense of Jewish denationalization, and the belief in the humanizing effects of German development and commerce . . . Jewish philanthropic concerns . . . [and] German trade or progressive foreign policy interests . . . [were] regarded . . . as identical.” Steven E. Aschheim, Brothers and Strangers: The East European Jew in German and German Jewish Consciousness, 1800– 1923, Madison, WI, 1982, p. 37. 173. Djemal Pasha objected to Zionism as an internal separatist movement threatening Ottoman unity. Throughout 1915, Djemal attempted to exile Zionist leaders, yet he moved carefully because of the political pressure Jewish leaders abroad could apply in protest. C¸ic ek, War, pp. 82 – 6. 174. In March 1915, 500 Russian Jewish deportees from Palestine formed the Zion Mule Corps within the British army. They transported water, supplies and ammunition at the Gallipoli front until disbanding at the end of the campaign in December. Many Zionists feared a negative Turkish reaction to Jewish military service in Entente armies. Battalion commander Joseph Trumpeldor, by contrast, believed that Jewish participation in an Entente victory would

NOTES

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176.

177.

178. 179. 180.

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earn favor helpful in gaining Jewish statehood in Palestine afterwards. Leslie Stein, The Hope Fulfilled: the Rise of Modern Israel, Westport, CT, 2003, pp. 126 –9. General Sir Ian Hamilton, British commander at Gallipoli, publicly praised the corps’ performance under fire in a letter to a New York Jewish newspaper. Ibid., p. 128. Naftali Friedman, a Lithuanian Jewish lawyer and member of the Russian parliament. In a speech in late 1914, Friedman vowed that Russia’s Jews would willingly fight for Russian victory. Dov Levin, The Litvaks: A Short History of the Jews in Lithuania, Jerusalem, Israel, 2000, pp. 76, 106. Actually, Zionist Aaron Aaronsohn and his NILI spy ring began gathering intelligence for the British in 1915 after concluding that the Turks would never willingly help achieve a Jewish Palestine. Aaronsohn used his agricultural experimental station at Atlit south of Haifa as his base of activity, later fleeing Palestine in 1916 to work directly with British intelligence in Cairo. Florence, pp. 165–7, 272– 3, 296– 7, 362. Ironically, the NILI spy ring smuggled intelligence out of Palestine by boat. Ibid., pp. 266– 7. Turkish: shoeshine boy. Anthony Dolphin Alderson, Fahir Iz, The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary, 1968, Oxford, UK, p. 43. This black list identifying candidates for internal exile hints at Pru¨fer’s growing activity as Djemal’s counterintelligence chief, activity further testified to by American oil prospector William Yale, who worked in Palestine for the Standard Oil Company (1913 – 17). One afternoon while Yale was visiting an expatriate couple he knew in Jerusalem, Pru¨fer and two policemen kicked in the door and confronted the pair. They claimed to be Swiss, but as Djemal Pasha himself knew, they were actually French nationals. At Pru¨fer’s insistence, Djemal reluctantly sent the pair into internal exile. By late 1916, Yale himself had fallen under Pru¨fer’s suspicion. Yale, Pru¨fer and Pru¨fer’s friend the Spanish consul Ballobar were then in a three-way competition for the affections of a Jewish – American woman living in Jerusalem. Through her, Yale learned that Pru¨fer frequently was asking her about him and his actitivities. Though innocent of espionage or collusion with Ottoman dissidents at the time, Yale later served as a US State Department intelligence agent attached to British Middle East forces following his departure from the Ottoman Empire after the severing of Turkish – American relations in April 1917. Scott Anderson, Lawrence in Arabia, New York, NY, 2013, pp. 11, 173, 265 – 8, 332 – 3, 356. A Lebanese banking family that had made its fortune in the silkproducing industry. Sarah Gualtieri, Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora, Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA, 2009, p. 33.

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182. Arabic: truth, the facts. Wehr, Cowan, p. 224. 183. Head of the Beirut municipality, Bayhum also participated in Djemal’s grain distribution committee along with the Sursuqs. Pitts, p. 132. 184. Eliezer Hoofien (1881– 1957), a Dutch Zionist Jew who emigrated to Palestine in 1912, where he directed the Anglo– Palestine Bank, the main financial institution for funding Jewish colonization, shut down by the Turks at the beginning of the war. Three decades later, Hoofien helped establish Israel’s central banking system and its currency. Abigail Jacobson, From Empire to Empire: Jerusalem Between Ottoman and British Rule, Syracuse, New York, NY, 2011, p. 45; Arnold Zweig, Beatrice Zweig and Ruth Klinger: Briefwechsel (1936 – 1962), Arnold Zweig, Beatrice Zweig, Ruth Klinger, Bern, Switzerland, 2005, p. 98. 185. Meir Dizengoff (1861– 1936), a Zionist Jew from Bessarabia, later founder and mayor of Tel Aviv. Dan Cohn-Sherbok, Dictionary of Jewish Biography, Oxford, UK, 2005, pp. 64– 5. 186. The international Jewish aid organization Alliance Israe´lite Universelle, though not Zionist by orientation, gave instruction in Hebrew in its Palestinian schools (instruction was originally in French). Rafael Medoff, Chaim I. Waxman, eds, Historical Dictionary of Zionism, New York, NY, 2013, p. 11. 187. In this report’s cover letter, Wolff-Metternich dismissed the seriousness of these charges, reasoning that Husayn’s accommodations to Britain were driven more by material than political concerns. British control of the Red Sea indisputably gave them power over Husayn’s income from annual hajj and grain donations for the Hijaz from India and Egypt, income Husayn would be loathe to lose. Husayn also derived significant income from lands owned by his Egyptian wife. On the other hand, continued Turkish control of western Arabian coastal cities like Jidda and Hodeida, and what Metternich saw as the new vali ‘Ali Ghalib Pasha’s skill in hindering Husayn’s defection to the British, made open rebellion by Husayn unlikely. In the worst-case scenario, a small CUP cell in Mecca was available to assassinate Husayn in the event of an uprising. Metternich also dismissed rumors of Husayn’s reaching for khalifate status, but this rumor was actually true. Lord Kitchener proposed a khalifate with Husayn as khalif in a letter to the sharif in March 1915. In a 15 July 1915 letter to British High Commissioner Sir Henry McMahon in Cairo, the sharif demanded that “England . . . approve the proclamation of an Arab khalifate of Islam” as his price for entering the alliance, possibly a provisional demand for British recognition of such an entity, should it ever exist. At the very least, Husayn was certainly contemplating radical measures (i.e., revolt) to protect his rule, thanks to his son Ali’s discovery of the assassination plot (revealed through papers of a Hijazi CUP supporter ‘Ali acquired in January 1915). Allawi, p. 49; Randall Baker, King Husayn and the Kingdom of Hejaz, New York, NY, 1979, pp. 53, 57 – 9, 64, 69; McKale, War, p. 109; NARA, T139/457.

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188. All three Arab princes ruled British client states along the Persian Gulf. Mubarak ibn Sabah as-Sabah (1837– 1915), the Emir of Kuwait, entered into relations with the British after signing a secret protectorate agreement with Britain in 1899. Shaykh ‘Ahmad Khaz’al (1863– 1936), ruled the Mesopotamian city state of Muhammara (today’s Khorramshahr, Iran) near the Shatt al ‘Arab, the river connecting the converging Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with the Persian Gulf. Before the war, Khaz’al gained British protectorate status by granting the Anglo– Persian Oil Company permission to build oil refinery facilities on Abadan, an island in the Shatt which Khaz’al owned. Ibn Sa’ud agreed to make the Najd a British protectorate in December 1915 in exchange for cash and weapons. Despite British efforts to enlist these Arab princes to fight on the Entente side, they rarely gave more than lipservice to their British partners and occasional active support behind the scenes. Rogan, Fall, pp. 79 – 83; Alexei Vassiliev, The History of Saudi Arabia, New York, NY, 1998, pp. 236, 238, 245. 189. Coastal city on the Red Sea just below Port Sudan, and a former administrative seat of the Anglo – Sudanese government. Daly, Sirdar, pp. 62– 7, 131. 190. On 9 November 1914, the crew of the German cruiser Emden were captured after an attacking Australian cruiser, the Sydney, forced it aground on Direction Island west of Java. The landing party, who had gone ashore to destroy an enemy radio transmitter, escaped on a small yacht. Sailing to Yemen, the survivors marched overland to Constantinople, where they arrived on 23 May 1915. The mentioned bedouin attack in Arabia occurred in April. McKale, War, p. 106; Tucker, Powers, p. 240. 191. The Zubeid Harb tribe, ruled by Sharif Muhsin ibn Mansur, governor of Jidda. Arab Bulletin, no. 33, 4 December 1916, p. 511. 192. Arabic: judge, magistrate. Wehr, Cowan, p. 772. 193. PAAA, R21138, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 16. 194. Carl Neufeld (1856–1918), a German trader and Egyptian army interpreter in the Sudan imprisoned for 12 years by mahdist forces in the city of Omdurman during the Mahdist Uprising (1887–98). The British deported him from Sudan in 1914 for gun-smuggling and anti-British rabble-rousing. In late 1915, the Germans despatched a team led by Major Othmar Stotzingen to relieve beleaguered German East Africa through establishing a radio-equipped intelligence and propaganda base in Yemen. From there, Neufeld would distribute holy war propaganda and bomb communications and rail lines in Sudan. Djemal and local Turkish authorities opposed allowing Germans into Arabia, fearing it would provoke Sharif Husayn. Indeed, the Stotzingen mission’s arrival in May 1916 did provoke Husayn to launch his revolt earlier than planned. The two Germans barely escaped the fighting in Arabia alive (minus a few team members). Meanwhile, discussions about other potential tasks for Neufeld continued. In a letter to the AA on 4 January 1916, Rudolf Nadolny suggested sending him to Sinai with the former African explorer Captain Hans Gustav Ferdinand von Ramsay on a different mission. Whatever

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his mission was to be, the reliable and fully devoted Neufeld “declared himself agreeable to the supervision of Dr Pru¨fer . . . His mission in regard to this is that, hereafter, he is supposed to subordinate himself to Dr Pru¨fer, and that his pay should be coming from the Foreign Office . . . Furthermore, it is being requested, as soon as the mission is assured, that Dr Pru¨fer be notified, and that he be instructed at the same time to have copies of Neufeld’s submitted reports reach him or go through him to the military attache´ in Constantinople.” Lawrence James, The Golden Warrior: the Life and Legend of Lawrence of Arabia, New York, NY, 1993, pp. 125; McKale, War, pp. 174–8; PAAA, R21138, Der Weltkrieg no.11g, Band 16; Pugh, pp. 24, 74, 124; Tauber, p. 80. 195. Major General Otto von Lossow (1868 –1938), German military attache´ to Constantinople, negotiated Stotzingen’s safe passage through Arabia with the Turks. McKale, War, p. 174; Barbara Flemming, Karl Su¨ssheim, Jan Schmidt, The Diary of Karl Su¨ssheim (1878– 1947): Orientalist Between Munich and Istanbul, Stuttgart, Germany, 2002, p. 161.

Chapter 3

1916

1. In early May 1916, Curt Pru¨fer quit his job with Djemal Pasha for a new post as an aerial observer, a “Franz” in airman slang (derived from the German term sich verfranzen: to get oneself lost; the corresponding term for pilot was “Emil”). His new duties involved navigation, noting enemy forces and fortified positions, operating the plane’s machine gun, bombing (literally by hand) and taking aerial reconnaissance photographs. His reasons for quitting aren’t clear, though one AA official mentioned Pru¨fer complaining about the fact that “the intelligence system is being run almost exclusively by the Turks.” Whatever his reasons, Pru¨fer’s superiors were clearly miffed at his decision, considering the new post a waste of his talents. To Pru¨fer, though, aerial observation merely constituted intelligence-gathering by different means. “In a war of position”, British intelligence officer Ferdinand Tuohy wrote after the war, “One wrote one’s intentions on the ground for others to read” from the air. Even as he embarked on a new course, though, Pru¨fer continued his regular intelligence-gathering activities, veiling his identity with cryptic, nonsensical pseudonyms like Dr “Ypher” and “Sidi” (Arabic: my lord). In accounts of his doings in this period by fellow airman Richard Euringer, “Sidi” spins himself as the mysterious, all-knowing, all-seeing eye of the German –Turkish war machine, the go-to man for the insider scoop on war news, and a master bartender and skirt-chaser to boot. He battles British POWs in a war of wits. He interrogates suspected Arab spies. From time to time, he disappears to perform clandestine missions for Djemal. Pru¨fer’s talents, in other words, were well-employed right where he was. Pru¨fer’s new outfit, Flight Detachment 300 (Fliegerabteilung 300 Pascha), was the first all-German flight unit in the Middle East, arriving in Palestine in April 1916 as part of Germany’s military equipment and troop transfer to the Turks dubbed the “Pasha I Expedition.”

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Previously, the tiny Ottoman air force’s serious aircraft shortage had limited its activities to reconnaissance missions over Gallipoli and the Bosporus. With the arrival of FA 300 in Beersheba, the German – Turkish allies now had aerial offensive capabilities they could use to their advantage in support of the coming canal expedition. The Germans’ Rumpler C.1 two-seater planes and Pfalz E.II single-seaters, though fewer, could climb faster and higher, and were better armed than slow, two-seater British Bristol BE2 fighters, which were ill-equipped for combat. This ended Britain’s unchallenged domination of Sinai’s airspace, which they didn’t regain until the arrival of large numbers of superior-quality fighters in the fall of 1917. On the other hand, the harsh and occasionally deadly flying conditions in Sinai’s airspace handicapped the Germans’ advantages. Sinai’s monotone landscape, blinding daytime sun and morning fog made directional orientation and visibility difficult. Blastfurnace heat thinned the air at higher altitudes, hobbling an aircraft’s climbing performance and creating powerful, dangerous turbulence. Additionally, the fliers’ primitive engines struggled to reach sufficient altitudes to cross over the mountains of central Sinai. Some FA 300 planes also lacked machine guns capable of firing forward through propellers. All the while, British commonwealth forces from Australia and New Zealand (designated the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, or EEF, on 10 March 1916) were also preparing for this inevitable confrontation, pushing new defensive lines, equipped with a railway and water pipeline, further eastward into Sinai. Walter von Eberhardt, ed., Unsere Luftstreitkraefte, 1914– 1918: Ein Denkmal deutschen Heldentums, Berlin, Germany, 1930, pp. 261– 4; Richard Euringer, Der Zug durch die Wu¨ste, Berlin, Germany, 1938, pp. 43, 56, 60– 1, 79 – 80, 89, 103, 110– 11, 128– 9, 144, 248– 9, 260, 289, 290, 296, 328, 339, 371, 377; Richard Euringer, Vortrupp Pascha, Hamburg, Germany, 1937, p. 159; Cross and Cockade Journal, Vol. 11, No. 2, Summer 1970, Brian P. Flanagan, “The History of the Ottoman Air Force in the Great War: the Reports of Major Erich Serno”, pp. 100 – 15; Stuart Hadaway, Pyramids and Fleshpots: the Egyptian, Sanussi and Eastern Mediterranean Campaigns, 1914 – 1916, Stroud, UK, 2015, pp. 90 – 1; Hans Henkelburg, Als Kampflieger am Suez Kanal, Berlin, Germany, 1917, pp. 7, 19, 20, 24, 26 – 7, 29 – 31, 36 – 7; James E. Kitchen, The British Imperial Army in the Middle East: Morale and Military Identity in the Sinai and Palestine Campaigns, 1916 – 1918, London, UK, 2014, pp. 43 – 4; Rene´ Martel, French Strategical and Tactical Bombardment Forces of World War I, Plymouth, UK, 2007, p. 202; PAAA, R21142, Der Weltkrieg no.11g adh., Band 1, 2 May 1916, anonymous to AA; Ferdinand Tuohy, The Secret Corps: a Tale of “Intelligence” on All Fronts, New York, NY, 1920, p. 213; Hans Wehr, J. Milton Cowan, ed., A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Wiesbaden, Germany, 1980, p. 514. 2. On this date, Djemal Pasha hanged 21 Arab nationalists – incriminated by the French consulate letters and confessions by arrestees – in Damascus and Beirut. Amidst the widespread shock, anger and hatred provoked

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4. 5. 6.

7.

8.

9. 10. 11.

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throughout Syria and Arabia by this watershed event, many Arabs’ now realized that the empire’s Turkish leadership was violently hostile to their interests. Most Arabs still took little or no immediate action against the government despite their fury, even after the new round of executions. For some, though, this was the last straw. The further devastation of Syria’s Arab nationalist movement by the government crackdowns had decisively crippled the possibilities for revolt there, so nationalist leaders in the Hijaz would now have to take the lead. Incidentally, the future military commander of the looming revolt, Emir Faysal, son of Sharif Husayn, was meeting with co-conspirators in Damascus when news of the hangings arrived. Throwing his headdress to the ground and trampling it underfoot, he shouted, “Death has become sweet, oh, Arabs!” The countdown to insurrection had begun. M. Talha C¸ic ek, War and State Formation in Syria: Cemal Pasha’s Governate During World War I, 1914 – 1917, New York, NY, 2014, p. 49; Leila Tarazi Fawaz, A Land of Aching Hearts: The Middle East in the Great War, Cambridge, MA, 2014, pp. 245 – 9; Donald McKale, War by Revolution, Kent, OH, 1998, p. 177; Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans: the Great War in the Middle East, Philadelphia, PA, 2015, p. 295. Corporal Otto Kahut. Dr Wandhoff was a cartographer and surveyor. Over the Front, Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 1998, Dieter Gro¨schel, Ju¨rgen Ladek, “Wings Over Sinai and Palestine”, p. 62. Observer Lieutenant Friedrich von Ha¨sler. Ibid. ¨ hringen, an observer. Ibid. Prince Friedrich von Hohenlohe O Lieutenant Walter von Bu¨low-Bothkamp flew combat missions on the Western Front before and after joining FA 300. He was killed in action 6 January 1918. Greg Vanwyngarden, Jasta 18: The Red Noses, Oxford, UK, 2011, pp. 8 –17. Canadian pilots shot down pilot Lieutenant Gustav Adolf Dittmar on 8 October 1917, and the Australians captured him at Wadi Ghaza. He spent the rest of the war as a POW. AWM, caption for photo P02413.049. First Lieutenant Schaumburg, an observer and temporary detachment commander (late April – early May 1916) while FA 300’s commander, Captain Eduard von Heemskerk, was in the hospital. Euringer, Vortrupp, pp. 30, 396. Pilot Heinrich Aude. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 62. FA 300 established a forward airfield near el ‘Arish in mid-April 1916. Ibid., p. 7. Captain Friedrich Baron Latscher von Lauendorf (1884– 1954), an Austro – Hungarian liaision officer with the 4th Army working for Kress. Latscher reported that the Germans behaved tactlessly towards their Turkish counterparts, as if the Germans were “in one of their colonies”, which may explain why, as Latscher stated, “most Ottoman officers wanted the Germans to go to the devil.” Edmund Glaise von Horstenau, Ein General im Zwielicht: K.u.K. Generalstabsoffzier und Historiker, Vienna, Austria, 1980, p. 533; Haim Goren, Eran Dolev, Yigal Sheffy, eds, Palestine and World War I: Grand Strategy, Military Tactics and Culture in War, London, UK, 2014, pp. 94 – 5; Friedrich,

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15.

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18. 19.

20. 21.

22. 23. 24. 25.

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Baron Kress von Kressenstein, Mit den Tu¨rken zum Suezkanal, Berlin, Germany, 1938, p. 149. First Lieutenant Heimburg, an observer. Euringer, Vortrupp, pp. 26, 30. Dr Otto Fleischmann, the FA 300’s chief doctor. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 62. The 4th class of the Osmanı medal, awarded to those rendering praiseworthy service to the sultan. Edhem Eldem, Pride and Privilege: A History of Ottoman Orders, Medals and Decorations?, Istanbul, Turkey, 2004, pp. 216–17. As Richard Euringer records, conversation that night turned to Sharif Husayn. Djemal Pasha had been keeping Faysal in Damascus to pressure Husayn to send bedouin volunteers for the upcoming canal expedition. When Faysal requested permission to return to Medina to prepare the bedouin force for battle, Djemal allowed him to go in mid-May, even though he now suspected Husayn of treason. Meanwhile, Husayn was badgering the Turks to grant his family hereditary rulership over the Hijaz, amnesty to Arab political prisoners and a decentralized Turkish regime in Syria and Iraq as his price for cooperation. McKale, War, pp. 176– 7; Sean McMeekin, The Berlin – Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power, Cambridge, MA, 2010, pp. 295– 6. See Appendix I. First Lieutenant Kutter, a former construction engineer with the Baghdad Railway, commanded the army camp at ‘Asluj near the Sinai– Palestine border. One of his important tasks was purchasing camels for the expedition. Euringer, Zug, pp. 178 –9, 185– 6. Heinrich Bro¨de, German consul in Jerusalem from late 1915 until the British capture of the city in December 1917. Antonio de la Cierva Lewita, Conde de Ballobar, Roberto Mazza, Jerusalem in World War I: The Palestine Diary of a European Diplomat, London, UK, 2010, pp. 97, 168– 9. Captain Eduard von Heemskerk, first commander of FA 300. Euringer, Vortrupp, p. 30. Antonio de la Cierva y Lewita, the Conde de Ballobar, Spanish consul in Jerusalem (1913– 19). By late 1917, he had assumed representation of diplomatic interests for many of the war’s combatants. Roberto Mazza, Jerusalem From the Ottomans to the British, London, UK, 2009, p. 97. Major Carl Mu¨hlmann, one of Kress’ staff officers who commanded the Akıncı Regiment (camel rider unit). Kress, pp. 149, 159, 162. Starting in May, this hot, dust-laden east wind blows in from the Arabian desert, bringing extreme high temperatures and severe drops in humidity and visibility. British Naval Intelligence Division, Palestine and Transjordan, London, UK, 1943, pp. 50, 52, 54 – 5. First Lieutenant Karl Salter, Henkel’s observer. Euringer, Vortrupp, p. 26. Richard Euringer, a novelist, memoirist, poet, and future Nazi propagandist. Robert S. Wistrich, Who’s Who in Nazi Germany, Padstow, UK, 2002, p. 56. Vice-Sergeant Klein, a flight leader. Euringer, Zug, pp. 131– 2. Abbess Veronika Wechmar and Princess Brigitte Reuss, two nuns who were running a soldier’s home in Beersheba. Kress, p. 154.

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26. Dr Hegler, a German navy staff doctor who cared for sick troops left behind after the first expedition at Kress’ camp in Ibni in 1915, and later established a cholera and typhus quarantine zone in el ‘Arish. Euringer, Zug, p. 137; Kress, pp. 103, 140. 27. See Appendix II. 28. Pilot Lieutenant Hans Henkel. Euringer, Vortrupp, p. 30. 29. A revenge bombing for the attack on el ‘Arish, causing fires Port Sa’id’s harbor area. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 10. 30. A civilian surveyor stationed with FA 300. Ibid., p. 62. 31. Djemal came to discuss the upcoming canal attack with his headquarters. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 10. 32. First Lieutenant Karl Kettenbeil, former artillery officer at Gallipoli, now a FA 300 observer. On 27 September 1915, he and pilot Lieutenant Ludwig Preussner allegedly became the first Ottoman air force crew to shoot down an enemy plane. Flanagan, p. 113; Donald McKale, Curt Pru¨fer: German Diplomat from the Kaiser to Hitler, Kent, OH, 1987, p. 49. 33. Colonel Behc et Bey, inspector general for the second expedition. During the first expedition, he managed supply depots along the line of advance. Searchlight on Armenia, Vol. 5, no. 51, London, UK, September 1917, Anonymous, “A Year in the Turkish Army”, p. 165; Ahmet Djemal, Memoirs of a Turkish Statesman, New York, NY, 1922, pp. 148– 9. 34. Alms given to poor people or a bribe given in exchange for doing favors. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E. Smith, The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia, New York, NY, 1914, Vol. 1, p. 424. 35. Pilot Erik von Witzleben, later a lifelong friend of Pru¨fer’s. McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 49. 36. The occasion was a dinner in the officer’s mess celebrating the green-lighting of the canal attack, which had been decided that same day. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 11. 37. First Lieutenant Fritz Berthold. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 62. 38. Actually, an aircraft carrier ship, HMS Ben My Chree. Ibid., p. 12. 39. On 23 April 1916, the Turks attacked EEF forces at Qatiya and Oghratina, two oasis villages desirable to the Turks for their water sources and close proximity to the canal. H.O. Lock, With the British Army in the Holy Land, London, UK, 1919, p. 13. 40. Dr Georgu¨, FA 300’s meteorologist. Euringer, Vortrupp, p. 31. 41. The Austrian vice-consul in Jerusalem. Ballobar, Mazza, p. 90. 42. Friedrich Kraus, Austrian consul in Jerusalem. Gerald Stourzh, Austrian Presence in the Holy Land in the 19th and Early 20th century, Tel Aviv, Israel, 1996, p. 378. 43. A residential quarter in Jerusalem settled by Jews from Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Martin Gilbert, Jerusalem: Rebirth of a City, Jerusalem, Israel, 1985, p. 214. 44. Garden on the Mount of Olives, traditional site of Christ’s betrayal by Judas Iscariot. Karl Baedeker, Pala¨stina und Syrien: nebst den Hauptrouten durch Mesopotamien und Babylonien, Leipzig, Germany, 1904, p. 153.

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45. The German missionary organization, the Kaiserswerther Deaconesses, founded Talitha Kumi in Jerusalem in 1868. It included a hospital, hospice, a girls’ school and a domestic vocations school. Rachel Beckles Wilson, Orientalism and Musical Mission: Palestine and the West, Cambridge, UK, 2013, pp. 137–8, 141–3. 46. The Russian Church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem where Christians believes Christ ascended to heaven after His resurrection. Baedeker, Pa¨lastina, pp. 153– 4. 47. The Ottoman Iron Crescent medal (Turkish: Harp Madalyası; German: Eiserner Halbmond), instituted in March 1915 for battle gallantry, consisted of a silver crescent moon imposed on a red, enameled five-point star, with the tughra, or personal calligraphic symbol of the Sultan Mehmet Res¸at V, in the center. Eldem, pp. 427– 8. 48. Fortified seaside town and terminus of the EEF rail line coming from Qantara. David R. Woodward, Hell in the Holy Land: World War I in the Middle East, Lexington, KY, 2006, p. 44 – 5. 49. The Arab revolt finally began this day. Many observers rate the revolt’s military contribution to the overall Entente war effort as minimal. It did nonetheless divert Turkish troops to Arabia and consume Turkish resources in Palestine and Syria. More importantly, though, the revolt – which Husayn spun as an armed struggle to cleanse Islam from Young Turk impiety – delivered a stinging rebuke to the jihad campaign’s appeal for global Islamic solidarity, and it openly introduced the concept of Arab nation statehood onto the world stage for the first time. Incidentally, other smaller actions against Ottoman forces by Arabs began to occur in the months after the revolt, mostly in Syria and Lebanon. Brigand bands consisting of Arab deserters, and bands of rebels (some fleeing death sentences or forced exile) began preying on Ottoman troops, provoking military responses – sometimes of substantial size – from the Turks. Wilhelm His, A German Doctor at the Front, Washington, DC, 1933, p. 189; Kress, p. 173; McKale, War, p. 178; McMeekin, pp. 295–8; Eliezer Tauber, The Arab Movements in World War I, Oxon, UK, 2013, pp. 25–9. 50. A popular Turkish alcoholic drink made of grapes and aniseed. Terry Richardson, The Rough Guide to Istanbul, New York, NY, 2015, pp. 206, 328. 51. Lord Kitchener was killed onboard a ship sunk by a mine near the Orkney Islands on 5 June 1916. Spencer C. Tucker, ed., World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, p. 882. 52. This Ottoman Armenian city changed hands multiple times during fighting in 1915, but in June 1916, the Russians still held Van. William Edward David Allen, Paul Muratoff, Caucasian Battlefields: A History of the Wars on the Turco – Caucasian Border, 1828– 1921, Cambridge, UK, 2010, pp. 299, 300, 310, 319. 53. Observer Fritz Morzik. Later retrained as a pilot, he flew on the Western Front alongside future Luftwaffe leader Hermann Go¨ring. Robert Forczyk, Demyansk, 1942– 1943: The Frozen Fortress, Oxford, UK, 2012, p. 15.

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54. A forward position for German – Turkish ground troops and forward landing area for aerial operations in mid-1916. Ministe`re de la Guerre, Notice sur l’Isthme de Suez et le Presqu’ Iˆle de Sinaı¨, Paris, France, 1915, p. 33; F.M. Cutlack, The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914 – 1918, Sussex, UK, 2012, pp. 37 – 8. 55. Though FA 300 received newspaper articles containing war news by mail, one wonders where Pru¨fer was getting his information, considering the Turks suppressed public reporting about the revolt for weeks after its start. Euringer, Zug, p. 57; McKale, War, p. 179. 56. Frau Hegler ran rest and recreational activities in Beersheba for the men. Kress, p. 177. 57. Medina remained firmly in Turkish hands until February 1919. Spencer C. Tucker, Priscilla Mary Roberts, eds, The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social and Military History, Santa Barbara, CA, 2005, p. 773. 58. A cacolet, or camel-borne stretcher, transported Bu¨low to Jerusalem. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 13. 59. Starting 4 June 1916, Russia’s Brusilov Offensive pushed back Austro – German forces on a massive front in Ukraine, forcing the Austrians to pull troops from the Italian front as reinforcements. Tucker, Roberts, Encyclopedia, pp. 232 –4. 60. FA 300 moved its airbase to Wadi el ‘Arish to shorten flying distances to enemy targets and to protect it from naval bombardment. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 12; Kress, p. 171. 61. Surrounded by barley fields, Khan Yunis abounded in fruit orchards and vegetable gardens with thick cactus hedges. W.T. Massey, The Desert Campaigns, New York, NY, 1918, pp. 120– 1. 62. An old palace built, according to tradition, by Salah ad-Din. Ibid., p. 121. 63. A village between el ‘Arish and Rafa near the coast. Ibid., p. 105. 64. A staff doctor and advising surgeon on Kress’ staff. Kress, p. 149. 65. A machine gun expert on Kress’ staff. Ibid., p. 149. 66. A member of the German Military Mission since January 1916, Fritz Grobba (1880 – 1973) was a 4th Army interpreter and Stotzingen mission member. British intelligence reported the capture of a notebook of Grobba’s captured during fighting in early August 1916, in which Grobba wrote, “Prufer very good in Sinai.” The British analyst added, “Dr Prufer was in the attack of 1915, but has been silent since.” Arab Bulletin, no. 22, 19 September 1916, pp. 263– 4, 271, 287; Lionel Gossman, The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler, Cambridge, UK, 2013, p. 232. 67. The battery ordered to el ‘Arish to guard the expedition’s right flank against British naval bombardment. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 15. 68. Rumanian town the Russians captured during the Brusilov Offensive. Spencer Tucker, Laura Matysek Vood, Justin D. Murphy, eds, The European Powers in the First World War, an Encyclopedia, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 145–7.

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69. Captain “Pop” Tipton, British pilot and squadron leader shot down by antiaircraft fire during a bombing raid over el ‘Arish on 18 June. Euringer, Zug, pp. 308 –19; Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 9. 70. Sister Paula Koch, daughter of Carl Koch, the German businessman in Aleppo, and hospital nurse in el ‘Arish. Kress, pp. 103, 154. 71. Turkish rear echelon encampment near a well 20 miles west of el ‘Arish on northern Sinai’s coastal caravan road. Cutlack, pp. 37, 40, 42, 43, 47; Henkelburg, p. 27. 72. Bir el Lahfan near FA 300’s airfield, a Turkish outpost near a well inside the Wadi el ‘Arish close to el Arish. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 12; Ministe`re de la Guerre, Notice sur L’Isthme de Suez et le Presqu’ Iˆle de Sinaı¨, Paris, France, 1915, p. 36. 73. Range commanded troops boring wells for the expedition, and managed store rooms for rear-area supplies. Kress, p. 178. 74. Colonel Ibrahim Bey commanded the advance elements of expeditionary ground forces, whose departure for the front was imminent. Kress, p. 179. 75. The rebels had taken Jidda by 16 June, and Mecca by 10 July. James Barr, Setting the Desert on Fire: T.E. Lawrence and Britain’s Secret War in Arabia, 1916– 1918, New York, NY, 2008, p. 42; Tauber, p. 81. 76. An Ottoman war decoration awarded for “military merit.” Peter Doyle, The First World War in 100 Objects, Gloucestershire, UK, 2016, p. 203. 77. The vanguard of the main expeditionary force, consisting of three each of machine gun companies, artillery batteries, infantry battalions and sapper companies. Kress, p. 179. 78. A bombing mission against the terminus of the EEF rail line moving supplies along the coast from Port Sa’id. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 18; Kress, p. 183. 79. British reconnaissance planes first spotted Turkish forces gathering at Bir el ‘Abd on this date. Massey, p. 52. 80. The 16,000-man attack force consisted of the 3rd Anatolian Infantry Division, plus other Pasha I units (i.e., machine guns, engineers, etc.). Kress, p. 181; Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, The First World War in the Middle East, London, UK, 2014, pp. 107– 108. 81. French: always the same. J.E. Mansion, ed., Mansion’s Shorter French and English Dictionary, Boston, MA, 1947, pp. 389, 640. 82. Bir Etmaler, a fortified encampment for Australian and New Zealand cavalry north of Mount Royston and Wellington Ridge, where the EEF made its stand during the battle. Kress, maps (back cover); AWM, document AWM4 10/2/19 – August 1916, 2nd Australian Light Horse Brigade war diary, Appendix II. 83. The big attack was now underway against the EEF trench fortifications stretching southwards from Muhammadiyyeh along a sand dune ridge to Katib Gannit, a hill surrounded by soft, deep sand near Romani. The expedition faced brutal heat (100 –115 degrees in the shade, so brutal that “a man got sunstroke in a bell tent if he moved without his helmet”). Undeterred, the Turks attacked Romani at midnight on 3 August. Holland

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86.

87. 88.

89.

90. 91. 92.

93.

94. 95.

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Thompson, ed., The Book of History: The World’s Greatest War, From the Outbreak of the War to the Treaty of Versailles, Vol. XVII, London, UK, 1920, p. 831; A.H. Wilkie, Official War History of the Wellington Mounted Rifles Regiment, 1914– 1919, Wellington, New Zealand, 1924, p. 93. Eight FA 300 planes took part in operations that day. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 19. The sympathies of the strategically located Druze of the Jabal Hawran area south of Damascus were valuable to the British and Turks alike. No Druze uprisings occurred during the war, due to their ambivalence towards the Arab rebels, although some Druze joined once the rebels arrived in Syria in the summer of 1918. Kais Firro, A History of the Druzes, Vol. 1, Leiden, the Netherlands, 1992, pp. 247– 50. FA 300 acquitted itself well in battle, attacking enemy pilots 21 times, dropping 363 bombs and firing 5500 shots with onboard machine guns. It was all for naught, though. EEF forces not only repelled the Turkish assault on Romani, but launched an eastward offensive that over the next several months thrust the retreating Turks and Germans into Palestine and Syria. The defeat at Romani marked the turning point to the Middle East war, and equally as important, an end of the threat to Egypt and the Suez Canal. The Battle of Romani also marked the end of Curt Pru¨fer’s active combat service. For the rest of the war, he devoted himself to carrying out espionage and propaganda operations in a steadily shrinking field of operations. Kress, p. 191; Massey, pp. 57 – 72. Hod el Masia south of the coastal caravan route and south-east of Oghratina. Kress, map section in back cover. Major Bischoff commanded a Turkish camel rider regiment constituting the expedition’s far left wing that crossed the Maghara Mountains to threaten ‘Isma’iliyeh. Kress, pp. 176, 181. Bir el Bayud, a transit point on the expedition’s initial line of advance, then an anchor for the main body’s left wing (the other being Bir el ‘Abd 15 miles northward). Ibid., pp. 181– 2. A desert oasis east of Bir el ‘Abd between Romani and El ‘Arish. The Times of London, History of the War, Vol. 10, London, UK, 1917, p. 368. Bir ‘Abu ‘Aweigila in the Wadi el ‘Arish between Jaba Hellal and Maghdaba. Ibid. A massive retaining wall below the site of the Second Temple built by Herod the Great, now a gathering place for Jews mourning the temple’s destruction in 70 AD. Baedeker, Pala¨stina, pp. 143, 149. Sven Hedin (1865– 1952), enthusiastically pro-German Swedish explorer and writer who wrote several books about his travels throughout the Middle East. Irene Scobbie, The A to Z of Sweden, Plymouth, UK, 2006, p. 94. PAAA, R21142, Der Weltkrieg no.11g adh., Band 1. Lebanese rail junction town near the Syrian border connected to Aleppo by the Beirut – Damascus line. Ruppin, Syria, p. 76.

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96. Mamure and Islahiya were Baghdad Railway junction towns: Mamure on the western side of the Amanus mountains, Islahiya on the east. Karl Baedeker, Konstantinopel, Balkanstaaten, Kleinasien Archipel, Cypern: Handbuch fu¨r Reisende, Leipzig, Germany, 1914, pp. 302– 304. 97. South-central Turkish city 50 miles west of the Taurus, and seat of the Mevlana dervish order, whose dancing ceremonies gave them the name “whirling dervishes.” Karl Baedeker, Konstantinopel und das westliche Kleinasien: Handbuch fu¨r Reisende, Leipzig, Germany, 1905, pp. 167, 169. 98. German-built train station on the Asian shore of the Bosporus in Constantinople, the gateway to Anatolia, and connector of the Asian and European sections of the Baghdad Railway. McMeekin, pp. 1– 2. 99. These were barracks ships for German military personnel transiting through Constantinople. Euringer, Vortrupp, p. 74; Henry Morgenthau, Sr., Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story, New York, NY, 1918, pp. 103– 4; Times, History, Vol. 3, p. 51. 100. Charge´ d’affaires at the German embassy. Huberta Voss, Portraits of Hope: Armenians in the Contemporary World, Berlin, Germany, 2005, p. 48. 101. Dr Hans Kickton (1880 – 1945), an Africa veteran and doctor on the Sinai front. Jerusalem Quarterly, #56 (Winter/Spring 2014), Norbert Schwake, “The Great War in Palestine: Doctor Tawfiq Canaan’s Photographic Album”, pp. 149 –50. 102. Richard von Ku¨hlmann (1873– 1948), son of the former Anatolian Railway director. Following diplomatic postings in Europe and the Middle East, he briefly replaced Wolff-Metternich as German ambassador to Turkey, then served as foreign minister (1917– 18). Erich Franz Otto Dombrowski, German Leaders of Yesterday and Today, New York, NY, 1920, pp. 227, 230; Spencer, Definitive Encyclopedia, p. 904. 103. Eberhard von Pannwitz (1887–1945), junior German consul in Cairo and one of the last German consular officials to leave Egypt in 1914, helped plan the attempted sinking of the ship Barenfels aimed at blocking Suez Canal traffic that year. Tobias C. Bringmann, Handbuch der Diplomatie 1815–1963: Auswa¨rtige Missionschefs in Deutschland und deutsche Missionschefs im Ausland von Metternich bis Adenauer, Munich, Germany, 2001, p. 156; McKale, War, p. 52. 104. Karl, Count Trautmansdorff-Weinsberg (1872–1951), legation counselor of the Austro–Hungarian embassy in Constantinople (1916–17). Rudolf Agstner, ed., O¨sterreich in Istanbul: K.(u.)K. Pra¨senz im Osmanischen Reich, Vienna, Austria, 2010, p. 74; August Demblin, Minister gegen Kaiser, Vienna, Austria, 1997, p. 256. 105. German consul in Constantinople Dr Johannes Mordtmann (1852–1932) managed the Armenian issue, talking frequently with Talaat Pasha and Ismail Cambulet (head of the Department of Public Safety within the Ministry of the Interior). Wolfgang Gust, The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, New York, NY, 2014, p. 116; Raymond Kevorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History, London, UK, 2011, pp. 15, 51, 87; Historische

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107.

108.

109. 110.

111.

112.

113. 114. 115.

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Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Neue Deutsche Biographie, Berlin, Germany, 1971–2013, Vol. 18, p. 93. Deputy to Major Erich Serno, German commander of the Ottoman Air Force. Physically disabled due to wounds sustained in aerial combat, Weyer later committed suicide. Flanagan, pp. 99, 112. Inspektion der Fliegertruppe (Inspectorate of Aviation Troops), the organization responsible for arming and equipping German air forces, which provided support to the Ottoman air force. Flanagan, p. 100; Ian Sumner, German Air Forces, 1914– 1918, Oxford, UK, 2005, pp. 43, 56. This letter was forwarded by Radowitz at the embassy in Constantinople to chancellor Bethmann in Berlin. PAAA, R21142, Der Weltkrieg no.11g adh., Band 1. Major Erich Serno (1892– 1963), commander of the Ottoman air force (1915 – 18). Flanagan, p. 99. Otto Go¨ppert, charge´ d’affaires at the embassy in Constantinople. McKale, War, p. 280; Reichsamt des Innern, Handbuch fu¨r das Deutsche Reich, Berlin, Germany, 1918, p. 54. A handwritten margin note says, “Dr Pru¨fer is being paid by the Foreign Office. Herr Hu¨lsen eventually wants him to go later on a trip to North Africa or to elsewhere. Going forward, Dr Pru¨fer should be employed in the Cartography Section of the General Headquarters and the News Bureau for the Orient.” Captain Dietrich von Hu¨lsen (1878 –1940) succeeded Rudolf Nadolny as the chief of Sektion Politik in July 1916. PAAA, R21142, Der Weltkrieg no.11g adh., Band 1; Werner Hahlweg, ed., Lenins Ru¨ckkehr nach Russland 1917: Die deutschen Akten, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1957, pp. 71 – 2. Under Secretary of State Arthur Zimmermann arranged for three additional months of leave for Pru¨fer on 20 December 1916. PAAA, R21142, Der Weltkrieg no.11g adh., Band 1. The cover letter of this undated report to the AA is dated 6 November 1916. PAAA, R1525, Deutschland no.126g adh1, Band 16. NARA, T139457/Turkei 165/Band 40. British propagandists used press interviews like this one to blunt the Turks’ Pan-Islamist propaganda and arouse pro-Entente sympathies. Their formal propaganda messaging, disseminated through formal publications or dropped as leaflets from the air at the front, largely failed to win over wary Arab audiences, since, as one British intelligence officer stated, “The Arabs have been the tools of Turkish intrigue for centuries, and are therefore suspicious of newspapers.” Personal appeals to Arabs by skillful agents, such as the continual “preaching [and] teaching” of Faysal ibn Husayn at tribal gatherings, carried much more weight. In a postwar interview, General Mersinli Djemal asserted that Anglo– Arab propaganda damaged Turkish power in Syria far more than the military actions of the Arab rebels. T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York, NY, 1935, pp. 173, 547–8; Bruce C. Westrate, Arab Bureau: British Policy in the Middle East, 1916–1920, University Park, Pennsylvania, 1992, pp. 101–12.

NOTES TO PAGES 145 –149

279

116. In 1914, the Turks tasked Sharif Husayn, Imam Yahya, the ruler of Yemen, and al ‘Idrisi in neighboring ‘Asir with defending the Hijaz. Al ‘Idrisi and Husayn later fought against the Turks, but Imam Yahya forebore violating his 1911 treaty with the Turks. Daniel McLaughlin, Yemen, Bucks, UK, 2008, p. 17. 117. The Bani Harb tribe, a powerful and warlike tribe in Hijaz and the Najd. The Hijazi clans, occasional allies of the Rashidi, eventually gave grudging allegiance to the sharif, but were notorious for robbing, extorting and killing travelers and pilgrims on the roads to Mecca. British Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Division, A Handbook of Arabia, Vol. 1, London, UK, 1917, pp. 64 – 5. 118. PAAA, R2351, Deutschland no.141 no. 7, Band 10. 119. Otto Gu¨nther von Wesendonk (1885– 1933), the AA’s coordinator of revolutionary activities in the Middle East, India and Russia. McKale, War, pp. 50 – 1.

Chapter 4

1917

1. After Pru¨fer’s return from Sinai, his illness rendered him unfit for further military service, so during his recuperation in Berlin, Oppenheim tapped him to lead the News Bureau for the Orient’s office at the Constantinople embassy. His new mission was to manage production and distribution of propaganda throughout the Middle East, and operate Oppenheim’s propaganda/news room network. By 1917, German propaganda had abandoned pan-Islamic, jihadist themes in favor of trumpeting the Central Powers cause and the glorious future of German commerce in the East. Several business organizations volunteered their propaganda capabilities to the German government for broadcasting this new message, the largest and most important of which was the international news service Deutsche U¨berseedienst-Transozean (German Overseas Service-Transocean). The Zentralverband Deutscher Industrieller (Central Union of German Industrialists) established it in 1914 as a more pro-German alternative to the more neutral news services like Reuters, Havas and Stefani. While partially funded and directed by the government, its private status allowed for a more aggressive, less scrupulously truthful editorial slant. The service published daily wire articles and other materials like the monthly periodical, Der Grosse Krieg in Bilder (The Great War in Pictures), with editions in Arabic, Turkish, Persian and Urdu produced in partnership with the NfO. After the Deutsche U¨berseedienst separated from Transozean in September 1916, the AA adopted it as a front organization for Pru¨fer’s propaganda machine, which he launched in March 1917 after returning to Constantinople. Donald McKale, Curt Pru¨fer: German Diplomat from the Kaiser to Hitler, Kent, OH, 1987, p. 51; Lewis Melville, German Propaganda Societies, an Article, Washington, DC, 1918, pp. 3 – 5; PAAA, R1526, Deutschland no. 126g adh1, Band 17.

280

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2. PAAA, R1530, Deutschland no. 126g adh1, Band 21. 3. A pro-German, German-funded Persian nationalist newspaper published in Berlin (1916– 22) sharply critical of British and Russian actions in Persia. Nikkie R. Keddie, Yann Richard, Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution, New Haven, CT, 2006, p. 74. 4. Throughout 1917, Turkish suspicions of German imperialist designs sparked stricter censorship in Ottoman territory. In a 17 May 1917 letter to the AA’s Censorship Advisory Office, NfO head Eugen Mittwoch mentions the banning of the NfO periodicals Die Islamische Welt and (as reported by Pru¨fer) Neue Orient. In the margin, foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann wrote, “In Turkey, you can never make it right with the censor, and it is a completely fruitless bother to try that at all”, a symptom of the Germans’ rising impatience with increasingly onerous Turkish restrictions. PAAA, R1531, Deutschland no. 126g adh1, Band 22. 5. German propagandists regularly distinguished between “civilization” wrought by their decadent, materialistic and technologicially mechanistic European neighbors (the “West”) and Germany’s distinctive spiritual, artistic and intellectual “culture.” Riccardo Bavaj, Martina Steber, eds, Germany and the “West”: the History of a Modern Concept, New York, NY, 2015, pp. 58–60, 201–204. 6. This cultural organization founded in 1915 established German schools and libraries, ran German-language programs and public lectures, distributed literature about Germany throughout the Ottoman Empire and answered questions about economic conditions in Germany and Turkey. Melville, pp. 7–8. 7. A handwritten note on this letter’s cover letter says, “Dr Pru¨fer’s undertakings are very noteworthy. Kaveh will gradually be phased out. Launching cultural periodicals for the Turks has already been attempted since 1915. Up to now, it was impossible to find suitable Turkish authors. Consult Dr Pru¨fer in this regard.” 8. PAAA, R1530, Deutschland no. 126g adh1, Band 21. 9. A daily political newspaper that served as the CUP’s unofficial organ. Ahmed Emin Yalman, The Development of Modern Turkey as Measured by its Press, New York, NY, 1914, pp. 97, 122, 131. 10. PAAA R1531, Deutschland no. 126g adh1, Band 22. 11. This was an inspection tour of the newsroom system suggested by Pru¨fer’s NfO colleagues (mentioned in a handwritten note on Metternich’s cover note from the 3 January 1917 letter). 12. Fortress built in 1452 at the narrowest point of the Bosporus Straits. Karl Baedeker, Konstantinopel, Balkanstaaten, Kleinasien Archipel, Cypern: Handbuch fu¨r Reisende, Leipzig, Germany, 1914, p. 230. 13. Mountain town south of Eskis¸ehır, and the site of a detention camp for British POWs. Ibid., p. 284; Ron Wilcox, Battles on the Tigris, Barnsley, UK, 2006, p. 140. 14. Ancient, fortified citadel in Afyon Karahissar first built in Hittite times. Verity Campbell, Turkey, Oakland, CA, 2007, p. 312.

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15. Town 75 miles south-east of Afyon Karahissar. Ibid., p. 314. 16. Pru¨fer was travelling through the arid, high-elevation plateau covering the western two thirds of Anatolia. R.W. McColl, Encyclopedia of World Geography, Vol. 1, New York, NY, 2005, p. 31. 17. Willi Seeger, chairman of the Konya branch of the Anatolian Industrial and Trading Company, Ltd. Wolfgang Gust, The Armenian Genocide: Evidence from the German Foreign Office Archives, New York, NY, 2014, p. 324. 18. South-central Anatolian town in the Bu¨yu¨k Menderes River valley between Konya and the Taurus Mountains. Baedeker, Kleinasien Archipel, p. 384. 19. By 1917, Baghdad Railway trains could cross the Amanus Mountains through a tunnel running from Mamure on the Turkish coast to Islahiya. Arthur Ruppin, Syrien als Wirtschaftsgebiet, Berlin, Germany, 1920, p. 301. 20. General Erich von Falkenhayn (1861 – 1922), German minister of war (1913 – 14), chief of the German general staff (1914 – 16), and commander of Army Group Yıldırım in Syria and Palestine through early 1918. Spencer C. Tucker, ed., World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection, Vol. 1, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, pp. 550– 2. 21. The ancient Greek city Nicopolis. Baedeker, Kleinasien Archipel, p. 304. 22. Commander of the German Service of Supply (SOS) in Aleppo. Wilhelm His, A German Doctor at the Front, Washington, DC, 1933, p. 1. 23. German SOS doctor in Aleppo. Ibid., p. 173. 24. Oscar Flechsig, cottonseed oil importer and dragoman at the German consulate in Aleppo. British Library document, IOR/L/PS/11/99 P 4180/1915, p. 3; Levant Trade Review, November 1911, no. 2, p. i. 25. Doctor in charge of the German hospital in Damascus. His, p. 176. 26. Prince Osman Fuad Effendi (1895– 1973), son of Ottoman Sultan Murad V. Edhem Eldem, Pride and Privilege: A History of Ottoman Orders, Medals and Decorations, Istanbul, Turkey, 2004, p. 351. 27. Doctor Wilhelm His, a doctor with the German army’s service of supply. In the spring of 1917, he made an inspection tour of German hospitals in the Middle East. His, pp. 1, 3, 127. 28. A mountain town east of Beirut where Djemal held court martial trials for the second group of hanging victims in the spring of 1916. Jonathan Schneer, The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab – Israeli Conflict, London, UK, 2010, p. 91. 29. Kadem Station in Damascus on the Hijaz railway line going to Dera’a. The Geographical Journal, Vol. 32, London, UK, 1908, p. 570. 30. Arabic: mayor. Hans Wehr, J. Milton Cowan, ed., A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Wiesbaden, Germany, 1980, p. 367. 31. Office manager of the community council handling Sarona’s administrative matters. Helmut Glenk, From Desert Sands to Golden Oranges: The History of the German Templer Settler of Sarona in Palestine, 1871 –1947, Victoria, BC, 2005, p. 104.

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32. In October 1917, the Turks broke up the NILI spy ring in Zichron Ya’aqov next door, and Sara Aaronsohn, sister of NILI’s ringleader, committed suicide after suffering torture during interrogation. Ronald Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn and the Roots of the Arab– Israeli Conflict, New York, NY, 2007, pp. 324– 30. 33. The German agricultural settlement of Wilhelma founded near Jaffa in 1902. Its residents were evacuated and interned near Cairo in July 1918. Glenk, pp. 49, 75 –6. 34. Karl Emil Schabinger von Schowingen (1877 – 1967), former dragoman who had learned Arabic, Persian and Turkish through the Seminar of Oriental Languages in Berlin. He succeeded Oppenheim as NfO head (1915 – 16) after Oppenheim left for Constantinople. By 1917, Schabinger was German consul in Jaffa. Jefferson Adams, Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence, Lanham, MD, 2009, p. 314; Antonio de la Cierva Lewita, Conde de Ballobar, Roberto Mazza, Jerusalem in World War I: The Palestine Diary of a European Diplomat, London, UK, 2010, p. 148; Hartwig Kalverka¨mper, Marisa Schippel, eds, Translation zwischen Text und Welt – Translationwissenschaft als historische Disziplin zwischen Moderne und Zukunft, Berlin, Germany, 2009, p. 667. 35. In January 1917, FA 300 moved to Ramla, a town along one of the rail lines in central Palestine. John D. Grainger, The Battle for Palestine, 1917, Woodbridge, UK, 2006, pp. 18, 173; Over the Front, Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 1998, Dieter Gro¨schel, Ju¨rgen Ladek, “Wings Over Sinai and Palestine,” p. 30; His, pp. 191–2. 36. Captain Hellmuth Felmy, new commanding officer of FA 300. His, p. 192. 37. First Lieutenant Richard Falke and Lieutenant Paul Schultheiss of FA 300 allegedly flew from Beersheba to the pyramids at Gizeh near Cairo on 13 November 1916. A German plane appearing over the pyramids in the photograph taken that day was added into the scene afterwards for propaganda purposes. Gro¨schel, Ladek, p. 28. 38. First Lieutenant Ernst Kru¨ger, observer. In October, he became FA 300’s commander. Ibid., p. 62. 39. Dr Friedrich Jeremias (1868 –1945), the provost (bishop) of the German Protestant community in Jerusalem (1910 – 18) and pastor of the Erlo¨serkirche. He was interned in Egypt in August 1918. Roland Lo¨ffler, Protestantismus in Pala¨stina, Stuttgart, Germany, 2008, pp. 87, 97. 40. Tell ash-Sheria, an important fortified strong point facing the EEF in the defensive line stretching from Ghaza to Beersheba. Grainger, p. 20. 41. Dr Samuel Grussendorf, German head doctor at the Kaiserswerther Deaconess Hospital in Jerusalem. Mark LeVine, Gershon Shafir, eds, Struggle and Survival in Palestine/Israel, Berkely, CA, 2012, p. 108. 42. Wadi as-Sarrar, a rail junction 20 miles west of Jerusalem. One line headed south from there to Beersheba. P.R. Davison, E.M. Benitz, eds, The Command and General Staff School Quarterly Review of Military Literature, Vol. 18, No. 69, June 1938, p. 222.

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283

43. Mersinli Djemal Pasha, successor of Djemal the Great as commander of the 4th Army after the latter’s dismissal in late 1917. M. Talha C¸ic ek, War and State Formation in Syria: Cemal Pasha’s Governate During World War I, 1914– 1917, New York, NY, 2014, pp. 63 – 4. 44. Enver convened a war council in June with Djemal, Izzet Pasha (commander in the Caucasus), Halil Pasha (commander in Mesopotamia) and Mustafa Kemal Pasha. Enver proposed an offensive to recover Baghdad using a newly-created army group, the Yıldırım Group commanded by German general Erich von Falkenhayn. Enver’s subordinates were aghast that he would subtract badly needed troops from crucial fronts, and give command to a German officer. At Falkenhayn’s urging, Enver later sent the Yıldırım Group to Palestine instead. Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, Philadelphia, PA, 2015, pp. 342–3. 45. Djemal spent the summer of 1917 gathering intelligence in southern Palestine as ammunition against Enver’s plan, which he vehemently opposed. This was evidently part of that intelligence-gathering activity. Ahmet Djemal, Memoirs of a Turkish Statesman, New York, NY, 1922, p. 190; Rogan, Fall, p. 343. 46. Hittite archaeological site Carchemish near the Euphrates River just south of today’s Syrian – Turkish border. Max von Oppenheim, whom Lawrence called “such a horrible person”, visited him and Sir Leonard Woolley during their excavations there in 1913. Gossman, p. 330; Anthony Sattin, The Young T.E. Lawrence, New York, NY, 2015, pp. 161– 2. 47. Syrian town on the Khabur River in northern Syria near Tell Halaf, the archaeological site excavacated before the war by Oppenheim. Ross Burns, Monuments of Syria: A Guide, London, UK, 1992, p. 295. 48. Syrian town near the Turkish border. This and all the previous towns sat on the Baghdad Railway line. G. Harold Lancaster, Prophecy, the War and the Near East, London, UK, 1916, p. 181. 49. A longtime crossroads for regional trade routes north of the Turkish – Syrian border, and the scene of an Armenian massacre in 1915. Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon la Boda, eds, International Dictionary of Historical Places, Vol. 3, Chicago, IL, 1995, pp. 617, 620. 50. Turkish: sergeant. Anthony Dolphin Alderson, Fahir Iz, The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary, 1968, Oxford, UK, p. 59. 51. Mosul in northern Mesopotamia escaped the fighting in neighboring areas until its capture on 3 November 1918 by the British, who were trying to grab as much of Mesopotamia as possible following the end of hostilities. Peter Sluglett, Britain in Iraq: Contriving King and Country, London, UK, 2007, pp. 5, 12, 69, 77. 52. Pappataci fever is transmitted by the bite of the sandfly. I.A. Kassirsky, N.N. Plotnikov, Diseases of Warm Lands: A Clinical Manual, Honolulu, HI, 2003, pp. 396– 401. 53. Africa veteran and staff doctor at the German hospital at Mosul. His, pp. 169–70.

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54. Some British POWs captured at Kut in Mesopotamia in 1916 were set to work helping to complete the railway system, particularly in the Taurus and Amanus mountains. Rogan, Fall, p. 272. 55. Izmit lies 50 miles east of Constantinople at the eastern end of the Gulf of Izmit, itself an eastern offshoot of the Sea of Marmora. Baedeker, Kleinasien Archipel, pp. 272– 4. 56. During the following gap in Pru¨fer’s writings, the Southern Palestine front, which had ground to a stalemate since failed EEF attacks on Ghaza in the spring, roared to life again. On 31 October, the EEF, now commanded by General Edmund Allenby, thrust northward through Ghaza and Beersheba, capturing Jerusalem by 9 December. The disaster resulted in the sacking of Djemal Pasha, who now returned to Constantinople. With Pru¨fer’s field of activity in Palestine and Syria shrinking, the AA assigned him to accompany the entourage of the ex-khedive of Egypt, ‘Abbas Hilmi II. During a sojourn in Austria and Switzerland, the khedive had intrigued relentlessly to regain his throne, but virtually no one on the Central Powers side – Turks, Egyptian nationalists or Germans – gave his cause a sympathetic hearing. ‘Abbas Hilmi began meeting secretly with the British in 1915 and 1916 to pressure the Turks and Germans, but the British only allowed the meetings to prevent him from joining the Central Powers. With German encouragement, the Turks allowed ‘Abbas Hilmi to return to Constantinople in October 1917 to discourage further negotiations with the Entente, and to maintain him as a future client ruler in a “liberated” Egypt. British minister in Bern, Horace Rumbold, who had been tracking the khedive’s movements closely, believed that “the Turks very much regret their course of action with respect to the Arabs and recognize how great their fault has been,” and that the khedive’s purpose in returning was bring about a reconciliation between Sharif Husayn and the Turks. Whatever the true purpose, Pru¨fer’s new assignment babysitting the khedive would last the rest of the war. BL, IOR/L/PS/10/467: document 38; McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 52 – 3; Rogan, Fall, pp. 343 – 53. 57. NARA, T120/4197/K203215 –216. 58. The Turks’ “political police”, as Pru¨fer put it. NARA, T137/25/Band 19. 23 November 1918, Pru¨fer to AA. 59. ‘Ali Bash Hamba (1875 – 1918), Tunisian nationalist leader, was exiled to Constantinople in 1912. Along with ‘Abd al ‘Aziz Shawish and Shakib ‘Arslan, he led the CUP-sponsored Benevolent Islamic Society, a PanIslamic organization founded in Constantinople in 1913, and during the war headed a bureau charged with inciting North Africans against the Entente. Robin Bidwell, Dictionary of Modern Arab History, Oxon, UK, 2010, p. 72; Jacob M. Landau, Pan-Islam: History and Politics, Abingdon, UK, 2015, pp. 92 – 3.

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1918

1. NARA, T120/4335. 2. While Djemal opposed Zionism, he took great pains to distinguish Zionists from the Jewish community at large, due to the intense international scrutiny on Turkish actions brought about through people like Arthur Ruppin himself. Often sympathetic to the plight of Jews in Palestine, the Germans acted as a brake on Djemal throughout the war, especially after the NILI revelations, which enraged Djemal and elicited threats against the entire Jewish community in Palestine. Zionist leaders managed to convince Djemal that the treason involved only individual Jews and not the entire community. Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: the Biography, New York, NY, 2011, p. 417; Ya’ir Oron, The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide, New Brunswick, NJ, 2009, pp. 71, 80, 87, 89 – 91, 93 – 5. 3. Undoubtedly a reference to the NILI spy ring. Ronald Florence, Lawrence and Aaronsohn: T.E. Lawrence, Aaron Aaronsohn and the Roots of the Arab– Israeli Conflict, New York, NY, 2007, pp. 324– 35. 4. Bro¨de favored Zionist colonization despite suspicion from Palestine’s German colonists, who considered the Zionists competitors. During the war, Bro¨de refereed disputes between feuding Zionist and anti-Zionists to prevent their persecution by Ottoman authorities, as that would attract negative international press coverage and waste the pro-German sympathies of Jews who suffered persecution in Russia. Bro¨de also opposed the Jaffa evacuation as a counterproductive attack on Jewish colonization efforts in Palestine. Isaiah Friedman, Germany, Turkey and Zionism, 1897– 1918, New Brunswick, NJ, 1998, pp. 161, 250, 357, 366. 5. The EEF’s attacks on Ghaza in spring 1917 prompted Djemal to evacuate Jaffa, a potentially inviting location for an amphibious landing because of its flat beaches and its Christian and Jewish citizens’ pro-Entente sympathies. Fearing another ethnic cleansing campaign by the Turks, Jewish leaders protested, winning deportees additional time to prepare for departure. Propagandists in Allied countries blew up the affair into a “massacre” of Jaffa’s Jewish community. In fact, all residents of Jaffa, including Muslims and Christians had been ordered out, although some non-Jews were later allowed to return. Investigators from neutral countries concluded that accounts of massacres, looting and destruction were grossly exaggerated. Scott Anderson, Lawrence in Arabia, New York, NY, 2013, pp. 297, 302– 4; M. Talha C¸ic ek, Syria in World War I, Politics, Economy and Society, New York, NY, 2016, pp. 93 – 7; Oron, p. 74. 6. Talaat Pasha did not oppose Zionist immigration to Palestine, although he foresaw the inevitable Jewish– Arab conflict it would provoke. Sean McMeekin, The Berlin – Baghdad Express: The Ottoman Empire and Germany’s Bid for World Power, Cambridge, MA, 2010, pp. 349, 351.

286

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7. PAAA, R1535, Deutschland no. 26g, adh., Band 26. 8. Shakib Arslan, Bernhard Moritz and Eugen Mittwoch also contributed essays to this issue. Su¨ddeutsche Monatshefte, Vol. 15, no. 2, 1917/1918, pp. 221 – 300. 9. In his July 1918 article in Su¨ddeutsche Monatshefte, Pru¨fer stated “the justice of the Egyptian cause”, the search for independence from Great Britain. The British, he argued, had broken repeated promises to evacuate Egypt since 1882 and selfishly exploited the country without preparing Egypt for selfgovernment in order to protect their “highway to India”, the Suez Canal. Pru¨fer justified the two forays against the Suez Canal, pointing out that Egypt was, “constitutionally considered, Turkish land.” Pru¨fer’s solution: a return to the pre-occupation state of affairs, “an autonomous viceroyalty under the lawful khedive ‘Abbas II under the sovereign rule of the Turkish sultan.” Su¨ddeutsche, pp. 269– 72. 10. Diplomat Werner Otto von Hentig (1886– 1984) led the unsuccessful expedition to Afghanistan (1915– 16) to convince its ruler, Emir Habibullah, to join the Central Powers side. At war’s end, he served as a diplomat in Constantinople. Lionel Gossman, The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler, Cambridge, UK, 2013, p. 232; McMeekin, pp. 224–8; Donald McKale, War by Revolution, Kent, OH, 1998, p. 225. 11. Eugen Mittwoch (1876 – 1942), a German Jewish orientalist and Arabist. Before the war, he taught at the Seminar for Oriental Languages, and authored works on Ancient Hebrew inscriptions, Arabic prayer, poetry and medicine. Mittwoch was one of the co-founders of the NfO in 1914. Hilmar Kaiser, Imperialism, Racism and Development Theories: The Construction of a Dominant Paradigm on Ottoman Armenians, Ann Arbor, MI, 1997, p. 26; Edward K. Kaplan, Samuel H. Dresner, Abraham Joshua Heschel: Prophetic Witness, New Haven, CT, 1998, pp. 102 – 103, 111 – 12; McKale, War, p. 67; Ursula Woko¨ck, German Orientalism: the Study of the Middle East and Islam from 1800 to 1945, New York, NY, 2009, pp. 182, 227, 236, 288. 12. Crimean town in southern Russia. An Austro – German agreement signed 29 March 1918 placed Crimea within Germany’s zone of control. Consequently, the Germans entered Crimea in early May and helped Muslim Tatar nationalist forces defeat the local Bolshevik contingent, which had seized power from the Tatars in January. Collier and Sons, The New Encyclopedic Atlas & Gazeteer of the World, New York, NY, 1918, p. 77; Alan W. Fisher, The Crimean Tatars, Stanford, CA, 1978, pp. 126 – 7. 13. The Turks were squabbling bitterly with Bulgaria over the disposition of the region of Dobruja on the Bulgarian – Rumanian border, and readjustments to the Ottoman – Bulgarian border in Thrace. Ulrich Trumpener, Germany and the Ottoman Empire, 1914 – 1918, Princeton, NJ, 1968, p. 175.

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14. Berlin-based pan-Islamist ‘Ahmad Farid Bey was the nephew of the prokhedivial Egyptian nationalist Muhammad Farid, as well as a friend of ‘Abd al ‘Aziz Shawish. BL, IOR/L/PS/10/467: documents 15 and 17. 15. Ahmad Nureddin Bey, special courier of the khedive who traveled frequently between Switzerland and Constantinople. Arab Bulletin, Vol. 1, 7 August 1916, No. 14, p. 143; Vol. 1, 16 June 1916, No. 4, p. 29. 16. Not to be confused with Mehmet Rifaat Pasha (1860 – 1925), previously Ottoman foreign minister and Ottoman minister in Athens, London and Paris. He later became ambassador to Berlin. Joseph Heller, British Policy Towards the Ottoman Empire 1908– 1914, Abingdon, UK, 1983, p. 217; Jeannette Winterson, Colm Toibin, Erwin Mortier, Elif Shafak, 1914 – Goodbye to All That: Writers on the Conflict Between Life and Art, New York, NY, 2014, pp. 83 – 4. 17. Muhammad Yeghen Pasha, the khedive’s cousin, finance agent and master of ceremonies. In October 1916, Swiss authorities arrested Yeghen, finding papers at his house implicating the khedive in pro-Central Powers propaganda and espionage, which could have resulted in the khedive’s arrest or deportation from Switzerland. McKale, War, p. 199; NARA M137/138, 4 October 1917, Bern Consulate to the Reichskanzler. 18. General Ahmet Izzet Pasha (1864– 1937), Enver Pasha’s predecessor as war minister. After a failed offensive in the Caucasus 1916 ended Izzet’s military career, he served in various government postings before succeeding Talaat Pasha as grand vizier in October 1918. Paul Knight, The British Army in Mesopotamia, 1914– 1918, Jefferson, NC, 2013, p. 156; Spencer C. Tucker, ed., World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection, Vol. 1, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, p. 830. 19. General Charles Townshend (1861 –1924) commanded the ill-fated Anglo – Indian force defeated in 1916 at Kut al ‘Amara. Townshend’s lavish lifestyle in captivity, which included access to a yacht and receptions at the Ottoman sultan’s palace, stirred controversy in Entente countries. Spencer Tucker, Laura Matysek Vood, Justin D. Murphy, eds, The European Powers in the First World War, an Encyclopedia, New York, NY, 1996, p. 690. 20. The khedive built C¸ubuklu Palace on the Asian side of Constantinople as a summer residence in 1907. Jak Deleon, The Bosphorus, A Historical Guide, Istanbul, Turkey, 1999, p. 101. 21. Andre´e de Lusange (real name Georgette Mesny), a young French actress whom the khedive met in Paris in 1913. David R. Rosten, The Last Cheetah of Egypt: A Narrative History of Egyptian Royalty from 1805, Bloomington, IN, 2015, p. 83. 22. ‘Abbas Hilmi married Hungarian noblewoman Marianna To¨ro¨k de Szendro˝ (1877 – 1968) as his second wife in 1910, divorcing her in 1913 after the khedive became involved with Lusange. Kenneth M. Cuno, Modernizing Marriage: Family, Ideology and Law in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Egypt, Syracuse, NY, 2015, p. 43.

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23. Russian troops evacuated Ottoman Armenia and the Transcaucasus following the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917. Realizing their golden opportunity, the Turks forced the Armenians, Georgians and Muslim Tatars to concede Turkish Armenia and restore the Russo–Turkish border of 1914. These negotiations were backed up by armed Turkish thrusts through Armenia to Batum in the spring of 1918. In reaction to Turkish demands for an independent Transcaucasia free of Russian control, the Georgians and Armenians proposed the creation of a Transcaucasian Federation Republic in April 1918. The Turks countered with even bigger demands for buffer territory between Turkey and Russia, which their army subsequently seized. The Germans protested the consequent siphoning-off of men from the Palestine and Mesopotamia fronts and the threats Turkish actions posed to Bolshevik – German negotiations over access to petroleum resources in Baku. When the Turks rejected proffered mediation by General Otto von Lossow, Lossow secretly negotiated a German – Georgian treaty that broke up the federation. Declarations of independence by Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia followed in late May. Richard G. Hovannisian, The Republic of Armenia: The first year, 1918 – 1919, Los Angeles, CA, 1971, pp. 12, 15 – 37; Raymond Kevorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History, London, UK, 2011, pp. 702, 704. 24. Georgian Black Sea coastal city, terminus of an oil pipeline from Baku, and also the site of Turkish – Transcaucasian negotiations. Trumpener, pp. 25, 33, 35, 37, 51, 52. 25. The Army of Islam, a joint Turkish – Azeri Tatar force commanded by Enver’s brother Nuri Bey. Ibid., p. 185. 26. Kress led a German delegation to the Caucasus in May 1918 to hinder Turkish aggression in the Caucasus, and to mobilize Georgia’s human and economic resources for the German war effort. Ibid. 27. Capital of the Transcaucasus regional government. Hovannisian, pp. 4; Trumpener, pp. 171– 8. 28. Major General Hans von Seeckt, chief of staff of the Ottoman Army since December 1917. Marian Kent, ed., Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire, London, UK, 1996, p. 120. 29. Azeri Caspian Sea coastal city adjacent to large oil fields. The British unsuccessfully tried to seize Baku and Tiflis in January 1918 to strengthen Georgian and Armenian resistance against Turkish advances, and to block the Turks from grabbing Baku’s oilfields. In the summer, a small British force reached Baku, but the Army of Islam pushed them out in September. Trumpener, pp. 195 – 6; Denis Wright, The English Amongst the Persians: Imperial Lives in Nineteenth-Century Iran, London, UK, 2001, pp. 177 – 8. 30. ‘Arif Pasha was one of the khedive’s master of ceremonies. Significantly, he was also foster brother to Sharif Husayn, making him a potentially key player in seeking Turkish reconciliation with the rebel leader. This may also explain

NOTES

31.

32.

33. 34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

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why he, along with the khedive’s uncle Prince Ibrahim Pasha Hilmi, was sent from Constantinople in July 1917 to convince the khedive to return to the Ottoman capital. ‘Arif returned to Switzerland again the following month to communicate the Turks’ response to the khedive’s negotiating position. BL, IOR/L/PS/10/467: documents 33 and 3. Sayyid Muhammad al ‘Attabi, Moroccan nationalist and university professor. ‘Attabi briefly spent time in Germany advising on Moroccan affairs in 1916, and in 1918 was in Egypt. Gerhard Ho¨pp, Text aus der Fremde. Arabische politische Publistik in Deutschland, 1896– 1945. Eine Bibliographie, Berlin, Germany, 2000, p. 23. Enver sent ‘Arslan to Berlin to sound out German attitudes towards the Turks’ Caucasus territories. William L. Cleveland, Islam against the West: Shakib Arslan and the Campaign for Islamic Nationalism, 1985, Austin, Texas, p. 39. The new Republic of Azerbaijan. Ernst Christian Einar Ludvig Detlev, Count zu Reventlow (1869– 1943), an anti-semitic, Pan-German annexationist and political commentator who during the war worked with the War Press Office as member of a committee of journalists. Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 21, Berlin, Germany, 2003, pp. 476 –7. Gustav Stresemann (1878 – 1929), monarchist Reichstag deputy and colonial annexationist with extensive connections to the German industrialist class. Stephen Pope, Elizabeth-Anne Wheal, eds, Dictionary of the First World War, Barnsley, UK, 2003, pp. 452– 3; T.G. Otte, C. Pagedas, Personalities, War and Diplomacy: Essays in International History, Abingdon, UK, 2014, pp. 81 – 94. Admiral Alfred, Count von Tirpitz (1849 – 1930). As German navy secretary (1897 – 1916), he strongly advocated unrestricted submarine warfare, resigning in 1916 after disputes with the kaiser and top navy brass. In 1917, he was elected president of the Vaterlandspartei, a politically reactionary party opposed to peace through compromise. Hugh Chisholm, Encyclopedia Britannica, 12th edition, Vol. 32, London, UK, 1922, pp. 730 – 1. Egyptian Prince ‘Abbas Halim (1897 – 1978), a relative of khedive ‘Abbas Hilmi II raised in Germany and former aide-de-camp to the kaiser. During the war, he flew as a fighter pilot for the German and Ottoman air forces. Arthur Goldschmidt, Jr., Biographical Dictionary of Modern Egypt, Boulder, CO, 2000, p. 69. Ottoman minister in Bern, Switzerland who participated in the Stotzingen mission negotiations. The Germans spied on Fuad because of his suspected contacts with the Allies and the Ottoman opposition party. McKale, War, pp. 173 –4, 198. Johann Heinrich, Count von Bernstorff (1862– 1939), German ambassador to the Porte (1917– 18), previously German ambassador to the US (1908– 17).

290

40. 41.

42. 43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

NOTES

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Jefferson Adams, Historical Dictionary of German Intelligence, Lanham, MD, 2009, pp. 35 – 6; Karl Su¨ssheim, Barbara Flemming, Jan Schmidt, The Diary of Karl Su¨ssheim (1878 – 1947): Orientalist Between Munich and Istanbul, Stuttgart, Germany, 2002, p. 114. French: extortion, blackmail. J.E. Mansion, ed., Mansion’s Shorter French and English Dictionary, Boston, MA, 1947, p. 105. In Constantinople in 1918, ‘Arslan discussed with Bernstorff a similar Arab – Turkish partition scheme of the Ottoman Empire modeled on the Austro – Hungarian dual monarchy. Eliezer Tauber, The Arab Movements in World War, Oxon, UK, 2013, p. 155. A failed Austrian offensive at the Piave River in northern Italy in June 1918. Spencer, Definitive Encyclopedia, p. 785. Arabist Edgar Pro¨bster (1879– 1942), former German diplomat in Morocco. In 1915, the Foreign Office considered posting him to Jidda as consul to create an intelligence service, keep Sharif Husayn under surveillance and counter British propaganda in Arabia. Later that year, during the Sanussi– British fight, Pro¨bster landed in Libya with gold, guns and medals to demonstrate Germany’s loyalty to the Shaykh of the Sanussi, Sayyid ‘Ahmad. Pro¨bster later embarked on a mission to subvert the loyalties of Berber and Arab tribes in North Africa against the French. McKale, War, pp. 108– 9, 150– 1; Woko¨ck, pp. 227, 289. Sultan Mehmet V Res¸at died 3 July 1918, and was quickly succeeded by his brother, Mehmet VI, the next-to-last Ottoman sultan, whom Kemal Atatu¨rk deposed in 1922. E.J. Brill, First Encyclopedia of Islam: 1913 –1936, Leiden, The Netherlands, 1993, p. 662. ‘Ayyub ‘Ansari, a companion of the prophet Muhammad and leader of an Arab siege of Constantinople, is buried in a tomb in Eyu¨p, a district stretching from the Golden Horn to the Black Sea. Ottoman religious and political leaders are buried in the surrounding cemetery. Karl Baedeker, Konstantinopel, Balkanstaaten, Kleinasien Archipel, Cypern: Handbuch fu¨r Reisende, Leipzig, Germany, 1914, p. 219. Informants working for the British maintained close ties with Ottoman legation in Bern, and reported on politics and public opinion in Constantinople and developments in the German– Turkish alliance. Yigal Sheffy, British Military Intelligence in the Palestine Campaign, 1914– 1918, Oxon, UK, 1998, p. 153. Gallipoli veteran and fluent German and Turkish speaker Major Cuthbert Binns ran intelligence and counterpropaganda operations against the Turks for EMSIB (Eastern Mediterranean Special Intelligence Bureau) and MI-1c (British military intelligence, the future MI5) from Bern, an easier alternative to infiltrating Entente agents into Ottoman territory. The British maintained intelligence contacts with Arab and Turkish soldiers, diplomats, businessmen, refugees and students in Switzerland. Knowing this, the Turks used these contacts to convey political messages to the other side. Michael Smith, MI-6:

NOTES

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49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

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The Real James Bonds, 1909– 1939, New York, NY, 2011, pp. 99 – 100, 162; Chris Northcott, MI5 at War 1909– 1918: How MI5 Foiled the Spies of the Kaiser in the First World War, Ticehurst, UK, 2015, p. 21; Sheffy, p. xiii, 152– 4; Su¨ssheim, p. 218. Fahrettin Pirioglu, leader of the pro-Ottoman Provisional National Government of the Southwestern Caucasus (December 1918– April 1919). The Treaty of Mudros (October 1918) directed that the province, centered around the city of Kars, be evacuated, but its leaders claimed autonomy in order to resist its incorporation into Armenia. The Asiatic Review, Serial 4, Vol. 42, January 1946, p. 354. Carl Friedrich Ferdinand Lehmann-Haupt (1861 – 1938), German historian and orientalist specializing in ancient Mesopotamian and Armenian cultures who taught ancient history at the University of Istanbul (1915– 18). Enno Meyer, Ara J. Berkian, Zwischen Rhein und Arax: Neunhundert Jahre deutsch – armenische Beziehungen, Holzberg, Germany, 1988, p. 53. Rauf Bey, new minister of marine in the new government, and leader of the Ottoman peace delegation that negotiated the armistice three months later. Isaiah Friedman, British Miscalculations: The Rise of Muslim Nationalism, 1918– 1925, Piscataway, NJ, 2012, pp. 10, 23. German orientalist Hellmut Ritter (1892 – 1971), an interpreter in the Ottoman Empire late in the war. Afterwards, he became an active translator and researcher in the fields of Arabic, Turkish and Persian literature, and taught in Istanbul. Ritter studied under Pru¨fer’s associate Paul Kahle. Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 21, p. 660; Hellmut Ritter, Ein arabisches Handbuch der Handelswissenschaft, Berlin, Germany, 1917, p. 93. Paul von Hintze (1864– 1941), German admiral and Ku¨hlmann ’s successor as German foreign minister, serving from July to October 1918. Tucker, Definitive Encyclopedia, pp. 760– 1. These are apparently code words, referring to the Goeben, which was cruising the Black Sea at the time, and the Russian naval base at Kronstadt near St Petersburg, which the Germans seized in May 1918. Collier and Sons, Inc., The Story of the Great War, Vol. XIV, New York, NY, 1919, p. 4332; Gary Staff, German Battle Cruisers, 1914– 18, Oxford, UK, 2006, p. 20. A Semitic philology specialist and lecturer at the University of Istanbul, Gottfhelf Bergstra¨sser (1886 – 1933) became known for his work in Qur’anic studies, and was a colleague of Pru¨fer’s friend Paul Kahle. Su¨ssheim, p. 110; Woko¨ck, pp. 194, 236, 274. Dr Mehmet Nazim Bey (1870 – 1926), a key follower of Talaat Pasha, joined the Young Turk Movement before the 1908 Revolution. A rabid Turkish nationalist, he passionately advocated for the Armenian genocide. Samuel Totten, Paul Robert Bartrop, Dictionary of Genocide, Vol. 2, Westport, CT, 2008, p. 303. French: “Evening at Rayna’s place. Charming.” The name is spelled in Arabic characters. Mansion, pp. 107, 111, 594.

292

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57. NARA, T139/457/Band 43. 58. Ibn Rashid himself originally introduced this idea of the wireless station in his capital in order to get more reliable news of the war’s progress than Ottoman censors were then allowing. The Germans, while initially excited at the thought of an information pipeline from the Arabian interior, ultimately rejected the idea for fear of causing friction with the Turks. M. Talha C¸ic ek, War and State Formation in Syria: Cemal Pasha’s Governate During World War I, 1914– 1917, New York, NY, 2014, p. 221. 59. Sprotte had been invited by Ibn Rashid to come teach his sons and chief notables western science. Ibid. 60. While Pru¨fer remained engrossed in navigating the drama attending the khedive’s troubled affairs, outside events demanded the use of his Arab-world expertise once again. Multiple Turkish attempts to achieve reconciliation with the rebel Husayn since late 1917 had failed, as German ambassador Bernstorff reported to Reichschancellor Georg, Count von Hertling in a letter dated 19 July 1918. The Turks had tried everything: a public announcement of blanket amnesty for all Arab rebels by Djemal on 14 November 1917; private letters to Husayn and Faysal in December promising autonomy in exchange for renewed loyalty; efforts by Husayn’s brother Nassir to broker a ceasefire agreement, offering autonomy, amnesty and general reforms for the Arab provinces; and ongoing negotiations by Mir ‘Ali of the ‘Abd al Qadir family. Despite the lack of response, though, Bernstorff asserted, “My source maintained the view that the sharif of Mecca is not absolutely pro-English. He only wanted to become independent with English help, or at least reach a position relative to Turkey approximate to that of the khedive of Egypt. The sharif is taking money from the English, but does as little as possible for it.” There was some truth to this. Even now, Husayn retained doubts about Britain’s ultimate motives, and was keeping his lines of communication with the Turks open (although with British knowledge). Some disaffection was also surfacing in Husayn’s proliferating complaints about military supply and internal Anglo – Arab political discussions. Pru¨fer’s share in the discussion sprang from claims that the khedive made after arriving in Constantinople in October 1917 that he, the khedive, could persuade the sharif to return to the Turkish fold. Almost a year later, as Pru¨fer reported to Bernstorff, the khedive’s outlook was now much more pessimistic. “The sharif knows the Young Turks too well to attach much worth to their promises”, Bernstorff said, “even if they were to make them. He knows that in the committee, it is not political expediency but rather personal rancor and petty egoism that determines the outcome of all haggling. Consequently, he would find himself ready there to negotiate with a strong sultan who would be in the position to keep his word, but not with a clique of unscrupulous upstarts who twist and turn with every political wind. Most particularly, the prospects for an appeasement through this would be impaired were the sharif to finally decide to remove the name of the sultan from the intercession during the Friday sermon. Also, the Medina situation,

NOTES TO PAGES 177 –178

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62. 63. 64.

65.

66.

67.

293

which grows ever more dangerous, would have an unfavorable influence on the possibility of the sharif’s capitulation because the situation of this city in regards to its position on the sultan would improve quite enormously. As long as one of the holy cities still finds itself in the hat of the sultan, the fiction of the khalifate of Constantinople can still be propped up somewhat. After the event, this fiction would utterly collapse, and no non-Turkish Muslim would acknowledge the sultan any longer as khalif.” Truly, though, it was too late for reconciliation, as internal German discussions showed. Husayn would never come back. McKale, War, pp. 205– 13; PAAA, R22348, Band 7; Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, Philadelphia, PA, 2015, p. 359. Village near Constantinople where the treaty ending the Russo– Turkish War was signed on 3 March 1878. Richard C. Hall, ed., War in the Balkans: An Encyclopedic History from the Fall of the Ottoman Empire to the Breakup of Yugoslavia, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, p. 264. French: full warrant to act. Mansion, p. 97. Arabic: flowing. Wehr, Cowan, p. 524. Herbert, Baron von Richthofen (1879–1952), former third secretary at the German consulate in Cairo (1911–14) and former champion of Pru¨fer’s candicacy for the khedivial library directorship. In the fall of 1917, Richthofen visited the khedive to tell the latter on behalf of Germany that “the past was “forgotten and forgiven.” BL, IOR/L/PS/10/467: document 20. Gossman, p. 232; Donald McKale, Curt Pru¨fer: German Diplomat from the Kaiser to Hitler, Kent, OH, 1987, pp. 21–2; Stephen Taylor, Who’s Who in Central and East Europe, Zu¨rich, Switzerland, 1935, p. 817. Ismail Hakkı Bey (1881 –1977), son of former grand vizier, Ottoman ambassador in Berlin and Ottoman foreign minister Ahmet Tevfik Pasha and an Austrian mother, spent many of his childhood years in Berlin. He became an adjutant to sultans Abdu¨lhamid and Mehmet VI Vahideddin, and married one of Mehmet’s daughters, Princess Fatma Ulviye Sultan in 1916. Ismail Hakkı also personally knew the kaiser. Ingeborg Bo¨er, Ruth Haerko¨tter, Petra Kappert, Tu¨rken in Berlin 1871– 1945: eine Metropole in den Erinnerungen osmanischer und tu¨rkischer Zeitzeugen, Berlin, Germany, 2002, pp. 55 – 63; Sir John Scott Keltie, ed., The Statesman’s Yearbook, Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World for the Year 1922, London, UK, 1922, p. 1348. ‘Abd ar-Rauf Bey, son of Field Marshal Rauf Pasha, was married to the Princess ‘Amira Hanım, the granddaughter of Egyptian khedive ‘Isma’il Pasha. Suha Taji-Farouki, Beshara and Ibn ’Arabi: A Movement of Sufi Spirituality in the Modern World, Oxford, UK, 2007, p. 72. Gisbert, Baron von Romberg (1866– 1939), German minister in Bern, Switzerland (1912– 19). One of the khedive’s primary German contacts, Romberg considered the former Egyptian sovereign a key ally in a future, German-dominated Egypt. Tobias C. Bringmann, Handbuch der Diplomatie 1815– 1963: Auswa¨rtige Missionschefs in Deutschland und deutsche Missionschefs

294

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69.

70.

71.

72.

73.

74.

75. 76. 77.

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im Ausland von Metternich bis Adenauer, Munich, Germany, 2001, p. 149; McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 53. Werner von Grundherr zu Altenthann und Weiherhaus (1888 – 1962) joined the Foreign Office in January 1918 as a military attache´. Peter Grupp, Maria Keipert, Biographisches Handbuch des deutschen Auswa¨rtigen Dienstes, 1871– 1945, Vol. 3, Berlin, Germany, 2000, p. 124. Hilmar, Baron von dem Bussche-Haddenhausen (1867 – 1939), the undersecretary of state (1916– 18), and the leader of the Zentralstelle fu¨r Auslandsdienst, a propaganda organ aimed at neutral countries (1916– 17). Bringmann, p. 90; Nicole Eversdijk, Kultur als politisches Werbemittel, Mu¨nster, Germany, 2010, p. 57. Dr Kriege was director of the AA’s Abteilung III, which handled legal and other affairs related to overseas Germans. Dr von Keller was a legation privy councillor in the same division. Reichsamt des Innern, Handbuch fu¨r das Deutsche Reich, Berlin, Germany, 1918, pp. 51, 53, 54. Erhard Deutelmoser (1873– 1956) held several posts during the war involving press affairs. He started in Abteilung (Division) III of the German army General Staff for Press Policy and War Censorship. In 1915 he became the leader of the War Press Office. From 1917 onwards, he held dual roles as the AA’s press section head and press chief of the Reichschancellery. Kurt Riezler, Karl Dietrich Erdmann, Tagebu¨cher, Aufsa¨tze, Dokumente, Go¨ttingen, Germany, 2008, p. 291. General Karl Bruse (1855– 1930), head of the Abteilung IIIb propaganda and intelligence service in the army’s Stellvertretende Generalstab (Deputy General Staff) in Berlin through December 1918. During the war, Abteilung IIIb expanded its activities beyond espionage and counter-espionage to include vetting and disseminating press propaganda and managing press and postal censorship. The Journal of Intelligence History, Winter 2005, Vol. 5, No. 2, Markus Po¨hlmann, “German Intelligence at War, 1914 – 1918”, p. 59 and Ju¨rgen W. Schmidt, “Against Russia: Department IIIb of the Deputy General Staff, Berlin, and Intelligence and Newspaper Research, 1914 – 1918”, pp. 73 – 4. The second class of the most commonly awarded Ottoman medal, the Mecidie, awarded to those who showed zeal in serving the state. Edhem Eldem, Pride and Privilege: A History of Ottoman Orders, Medals and Decorations, Istanbul, Turkey, 2004, pp. 176, 183. Dr Amster, an Austrian ex-official of the Health Department in Egypt, began holding discussions with the khedive in Switzerland starting in August 1916. Arab Bulletin, No. 14, 7 August 1916, p. 143. Belgian border town ten miles south-west of Aachen, Germany. Collier, p. 88. Capital of Belgium. Ibid., p. 163. Oskar von der Lancken-Wakenitz (1867 – 1939), head of the political section of the German occupation government in Belgium. Thomas Schneider, Peter Raulwing, eds, Egyptology from the First World War to the Third Reich: Ideology,

NOTES

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79. 80. 81. 82. 83.

84.

85.

86. 87. 88.

89.

90.

91. 92.

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Scholarship and Individual Biographies, Boston, MA, 2013, p. 80; Alexander Sedlmaier, Deutschlandbilder und Deutschlandpolitik: Studien zur WilsonAdministration, 1913–1921, 2003, Wiesbaden, Germany, p. 58. Hans-Adolf von Moltke (1884– 1943), nephew of the German army’s chief of staff General Helmut von Moltke, worked for the political section of the German occupation government of Brussels from 1915 onwards. Olaf Jessen, Die Moltkes: Biographie einer Familie, Munich, Germany, 2010, p. 309. The former Ottoman minister of war whom Enver killed in the Young Turk coup of 1913. Prince Abdu¨rrahim Hayri Effendi (1894– 1952), son of Sultan Abdu¨lhamid II. Eldem, p. 272. Turkish: like stupid animals. Anthony Dolphin Alderson, Fahir Iz, The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary, 1968, Oxford, UK, p. 132. French: lunch. Mansion, p. 175. General Ludwig, Baron von Falkenhausen (1844 – 1936) commanded German troops on the Western Front until removed from command after the disastrous Battle of Arras in April, 1917, subsequently serving as military governor of occupied Belgium through 1918. Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 5, 1960, p. 11. Arthur von Posadowsky-Wehner (1845– 1932), a conservative German politician and former cabinet minister. Hermann Beck, The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933: The Machtergreifung in a New Light, New York, NY, 2010, p. 31. General Detlof von Winterfeldt (1867 – 1940) represented OHL in the Reichschancellor’s office (1917 – 18). Benjamin Hasselhorn, Johannes Haller: Eine politische Gelehrtenbiographie, Go¨ttingen, Germany, 2015, p. 383. General Hans von Zwehl (1851 –1926). The Times of London, History of the War, Vol. 12, London, UK, 1917, p. 460. Ernst, Baron von Moy de Sons (1860 – 1922), Bavarian head master of ceremonies. Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 18, p. 237. Alexander Schaible (1870 – 1933), chief civil administrator for the Flanders region of Belgium. Michae¨l Amara, Hubert Roland, Gouverner en Belgique occupe´e: Oscar von der Lancken-Wakenitz rapports d’Activite´, 1915– 1918, Brussels, Belgium, 2004, p. 284. Major Walter von Strempel, former military attache´ in Constantinople (1907 – 14). After clashing with General Liman von Sanders, he got sent back to Berlin to act as government minder for Ottoman princes traveling there for military training. Kent, p. 110. Prince Karl Gottfried zu Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen (1879 – 1960), whose father Friedrich Wilhelm had been the general adjutant to the kaiser. G.G. Winkel, Biographisches Corpsalbum der Borussia zu Bonn, 1821– 1928, Aschaffenburg, Germany, 1928, p. 241. French: a rupture. Mansion, p. 186. French: dining; and mirth. Mansion, pp. 195, 283.

296

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93. Arabic: but of course! Wehr, Cowan, p. 92. 94. Ibrahim Hakkı Pasha (1862–1918), Ottoman grand Vizier (1910–11) and Ottoman ambassador to Berlin (1915–18). Carter Vaughn Findley, Ottoman Civil Officialdom, a Social History, Princeton, NJ, 2014, pp. xii, 195–209. 95. Ahmet Tevfik Pasha (1845– 1936) was Ottoman foreign minister (1895 – 1909), grand vizier (1909) and ambassador to London (1909 – 14) and Germany (1885 – 95). Joseph Heller, British Policy Towards the Ottoman Empire 1908– 1914, Abingdon, UK, 1983, p. 218; Su¨ssheim, p. 21. 96. Osman Nizami (1856 – 1939), former Ottoman ambassador to Berlin (1908 – 1913). Sinan Kuneralp, Son do¨nem Osmanlı erkaˆn ve ricali, 1839– 1922: prosopografik rehber, Istanbul, Turkey, 1999, p. 115. 97. German army headquarters was in Spa, Belgium, just inside the Belgian border ten miles south-east of Lie`ge. Tucker, Powers, p. 467. 98. Oskar, Count von Platen-Hallermund (1865 – 1967), a German naval officer, commander of the kaiser’s personal yacht Hohenzollern (1908– 11), adjutant to the kaiser and chamberlain. Albert Hopman, Das ereignisreiche Leben eines “Wilhelminers”: Tagebu¨cher, Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, 1901 bis 1920, Munich, Germany, 2004, p. 1219. 99. Dr Baron von Gru¨nau, a legation counselor with the AA. Deutsches Reich, p. 54. 100. Prince Heinrich of Prussia (1862 – 1929), the younger brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II and a retired high-ranking admiral in the German navy. David T. Zabecki, ed., Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History, Santa Barbara, CA, 2014, p. 591. 101. Prince Waldemar of Prussia (1889 – 1945), son of Prince Heinrich. Norwegian Polar Institute, The Place Names of Svalbard, Oslo, Norway, 2003, p. 490. 102. General Hermann von Eichhorn (1848– 1918), military governor of Kiev, assassinated by a socialist revolutionary in protest against his harsh rule. Tucker, Definitive Encyclopedia, pp. 528– 9. 103. NARA, T137/138. 104. Khedivial adjutant Ramzi Tahir Pasha, formerly the Egyptian undersecretary of state for war in 1914. John Fortescue, Narrative of the Visit to India of their Majesties King George V and the Queen Mary and of the Coronation Durbar Held at Delhi 12th December 1911, London, UK, 1912, pp. 269, 270, 308; The International Whitaker, London, UK, 1914, p. 221. 105. Dr Willy Haas, head of German intelligence in Switzerland tasked with surveillance of the khedive, other Egyptian expatriates, Turks suspected of Ententist or anti-CUP sympathies and Indian nationalist exiles in that country. McKale, War, 118, pp. 119, 198. 106. Prince Muhammad ‘Abd al Mun’aim (1899 – 1979), son of ‘Abbas Hilmi, and heir-apparent until his father’s deposition in 1914. Rosten, pp. 78 – 9. 107. Prince ‘Ahmad Fuad, who succeeded his brother, the British-installed sultan of Egypt Husayn Kamil, after the latter’s death in 1917. McKale, War, p. 209.

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108. ‘Abd al Mun’aim was hoping to marry Sultan Fuad’s daughter, sensing the imminent defeat of the Central Powers, but the British wanted to have nothing to do with him. McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 55. 109. August Stein (1851–1920), head of the Berlin bureau of the liberal, antiannexationist Frankfurter Zeitung. Stein was part of an advisory council convened by the Zentralstelle fu¨r Auslandsdienst (composed of members of the Foreign Office, the Reichsmarineamt, the Reich chancellory, etc.) that met daily to discuss the war situation and ongoing propaganda efforts. Heike Bungert, Jan G. Heitmann, Michael Wala, eds, Secret Intelligence in the Twentieth Century, London, UK, 2004, p. 17; Verlag der Frankfurter Zeitung, Geschichte der Frankfurter Zeitung, 1856 bis 1906, Frankfurt, Germany, 1906, p. 377. 110. The Grunewald was a royal forest south-west of Berlin. Karl Baedeker, Northern Germany as Far as the Bavarian and Austrian Frontiers: Handbook for Travelers, Leipzig, Germany, 1910, p. 24. 111. Friedrich Sarre (1865 – 1945), a German orientalist, archaeologist and collector of Islamic art who traveled and worked in Iran, Iraq and Turkey before the war. He donated most of his Islamic art collection to the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin. Lee Sorensen, ed., Dictionary of Art Historians: A Biographical Dictionary of Historic Scholars, Museum Professionals and Academic Historians of Art, https://dictionaryofarthistorians.org/sarref.htm (accessed 12 November 2016). 112. Prince Shehzade O¨mer Faruk (1898– 1969), son of the future and last reigning Ottoman sultan Abdu¨lmecid II. Ibrahim Pazan, Son saraylı: S¸ehzade Osman Ertug˘rul Efendi, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009, p. 98. 113. A town 60 miles south-east of Danzig (Gdansk) in Poland. Its castle was the residence of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in the 14th and 15th centuries. Baedeker, Germany, pp. 361– 2. 114. The kaiser’s summer residence in the Polish Baltic Sea coastal town of Kadyny near Gdansk. Mark Salter, Jonathan Bousfield, Poland, London, UK, 2002, p. 224. 115. NfO members Herbert Mu¨ller (1885– 1966), a Sinologist, art dealer and journalist, and Friedrich Perzyn´ski (1877 –1962), a specialist in Japanese and Chinese art. Mu¨ller was also the director of Der Neue Orient. Hartmut Walravens, Friedrich Perzyn´ski, Friedrich Perzyn´ski (1877 – 1962): Kunsthistoriker, Ostasienreisender, Schriftsteller: Leben, Werk, Briefe, Melle, Germany, 2005, pp. 7 – 18, 285; Hartmut Walravens, Herbert Mueller (1885– 1966), Sinologe, Kunstha¨ndler, Jurist und Journalist. Eine biobibliographische Skizze, Berlin, Germany, 1992, pp. 3 – 5. 116. Arabic: evening. Wehr, Cowan, p. 178. 117. A town beside the Berlin suburb of Potsdam and site of a royal palace used as a summer house by Kaiser Wilhelm I. Baedeker, Germany, p. 28. 118. The Allies’ last big push on the western front, the Hundred Days Offensive, began with the Battle of Amiens (8– 15 August 1918), during which the British penetrated several miles into German lines and took thousands of

298

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120. 121.

122.

123.

124.

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prisoners. It was the beginning of the end for Germany. Spencer, Definitive Encyclopedia, pp. 90 – 2. In July 1918, a multi-national troop landed in Murmansk in northern Russia to fight Bolshevik forces, expanding their hold to Archangelsk by early August. Ibid., p. 127. NARA, T139/457/Band 43. In 1909, Cairo-born ‘Aziz ‘Ali al Misri co-founded the Arab nationalist group al Qahtaniyya, then in 1913, the nationalist group al ‘Ahd. The Turks arrested him for treason. After British pressure secured his release, he went into exile in Egypt. Al Misri devised several plans for an Arab revolt in Iraq and Syria, but bureaucratic in-fighting within the British government and the diversion of British imperial interests from al Misri’s goals frustrated these plans. The appointment of al Misri as chief of staff for Sharif Husayn’s rebel army in September 1916 seemed to put the man’s fortunes back on track. His good fortune did not last. Tauber, pp. 3, 7 – 8, 82 – 92. More accurately, al Misri’s proposals in 1914 for fomenting Arab rebellions demanded that the British refrain from annexing Iraq. Al Misri did, however, tell the British ambassador in Madrid that due to his gratitude for British intervention in his treason case, he felt honor-bound to refrain from fighting alongside the Turks. Ibid., pp. 84 – 6, 98. British and sharifian objections to al Misri’s military planning increasingly frustrated the would-be revolutionary. Al Misri’s stubbornness and contradictory embrace of both the idea of a dual Turco-Arab empire (al ‘Ahd’s original political stance) and Husayn’s separatist intentions earned him the suspicion of the sharifians. The disillusioned al Misri justified this suspicion by colluding with anti-separatist Arab officers to join Ottoman forces in Medina in deposing Husayn, hoping to earn himself bargaining power to negotiate with the Turks for Arab autonomy within the Empire. That was the last straw. On 21 February 1917, Husayn and the British sent al Misri packing back to Egypt, from which he moved on to Madrid in January 1918. In Spain, al Misri continued to play politics on all sides, offering the British help in deposing the CUP government in exchange for Arab autonomy in a non-partitioned empire, even while he was beginning to meet with the Germans to request a field command in the German army (believing Britain couldn’t win the war, and if Germany helped reunite Egypt with the Empire, perhaps the Germans could pressure the Turks for Arab autonomy). Al Misri remained in Spain until after the armistice, thwarted and idle to the end. Ibid., pp. 92 – 100. Former Reichstag deputy Matthias Erzberger (1875–1921). Throughout the war, Erzberger led propaganda efforts aimed at neutral nations in conjunction with the Reichsmarineamt and the AA. Initially pro-annexationist, he later advocated peace negotiations with the Entente. Britannica, 12th edition, Vol. XXXI, pp. 9–10; Eversdijk, p. 49, 55–7.

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299

125. Another Berlin suburb near Potsdam. Baedeker, Germany, p. 25. 126. Ludwig III, the last king of Bavaria (1845 – 1921), deposed in November 1918. Tucker, Definitive Encyclopedia, p. 997. 127. Otto Ritter von Dandl (1868– 1942), Bavarian prime minister. Wolfgang Benz, Su¨ddeutschland in der Weimarer Republik: Ein Beitrag zur deutschen Innenpolitik, 1918– 1923, Berlin, Germany, 1970, p. 31. 128. Egon, Baron von Ramberg (1869–1938), Austro–Hungarian consul general in Munich. Gerhard J. Bellinger, Brigitte Regler-Bellinger, Schwabings Ainmillerstraße und ihre bedeutendsten Anwohner: Ein repra¨sentatives Beispiel der Mu¨nchner Stadtgeschichte von 1888 bis heute, Norderstedt, Germany, 2012, p. 289. 129. Swiss doctor Humbert Denis Parodi, former government inspector-general of public instruction in Egypt, worked with Binns as “the snoop assigned to the surveillance of Egyptian students in Geneva.” Parodi also acted as mediator between Britons and Turks interested in discussing a separate peace. Der Neue Orient, Vol. 2, 1918, p. 218; Schneer, pp. 254– 5. 130. A mountain resort town in Bavaria, almost 50 miles south-east of Munich. Michael Ivory, Germany, Washington, DC, 2007, p. 312. 131. Princess Viktoria of Prussia (1866– 1929). Jerrold M. Packard, Victoria’s Daughters, New York, NY, 1999, p. xiv. 132. Prince Oskar Karl Gustav Adolph of Prussia (1888 – 1958), a son of the kaiser. Official House of Prussia website: http://www.preussen.de/de/geschichte/ 1888_wilhelm_ii./kinder/oskar.html. 133. NARA/T137/138/Band 13. 134. Albanian Nureddin Bey Vlora (1889 – 1964) was the son of Mehmet Ferit Pasha (Ottoman grand vizier, 1903– 8) and a son-in-law of the ex-khedive, as was his brother Jelaladdin. His uncle Sureya Vlora Bey (1860– 1940) was a brother of Ferit and the former Albanian minister in Vienna. Nureddin, Sureya and fellow Albanian diplomat Neshat Pasha Vlora played an intermediary role for the khedive with British authorities in Switzerland, as well as the Germans. BL, IOR/L/PS/10/467: documents 15, 31 and 38; Daily Extracts from the Foreign Press, Vol. 8, Tuesday 11th January 1916, p. 6; Robert Elsie, A Biographical Dictionary of Albanian History, London, UK, 2012, pp. 470 – 1; Great Britain and the East, 1935, Vol. 45, p. 326. 135. NARA/T137/138/Band 13. 136. The princesses Wiltrud (1884–1975) and Helmtrud (1886–1977) of Bavaria, daughters of King Ludwig. Official House of Wittelsbach website: http://hausbayern.com/die-koenigliche-familie/. 137. Prince Leopold of Bavaria (1846 – 1930), brother of the king. Ibid. 138. Prince Konrad of Bavaria (1886– 1969), nephew of King Ludwig; Prince Alphons of Bavaria (1862 – 1933), cousin of King Ludwig; Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria (1859 – 1949), Alphons’ brother. Ibid. 139. Pacifist Albert Ballin (1857– 1918), German Jewish owner of the Hamburg– America Shipping line (HAPAG), and a close advisor of the kaiser. Before the war, Ballin tried to build bridges between British and German leaders. At the

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141.

142. 143. 144.

145. 146.

147. 148.

149.

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war’s end, the German general staff asked Ballin to conduct the peace negotiations, but after the abdication of the kaiser in November 1918, Ballin committed suicide, unable to bear the collapse of the world he had devoted his life to building. Neil Hollander, Elusive Dove: The Search for Peace During World War I, Jefferson, NC, 2013, pp. 23 – 4, 262. Prince ‘Abd al Qadir (1902– 19), younger son of the khedive. Great Britain and the East, Volume 16, 1919, p. 121; NARA, T137/138, Romberg to von Hertling, 29 December 1917. ‘Abd al Hamid Sheddid served as the khedive’s intermediary working with a Zu¨rich bank to effect the sale of the khedive’s shares in the finance company Credit Foncier earlier in the war. Weeks before the khedive’s departure from Switzerland for Constantinople in October 1917, Sa’id Kamil made visits throughout Switzerland to build support for the khedive among Egyptian students there. BL, IOR/L/PS/10/467: documents 15 and 28. NARA/T137/138/Band 13. I.e., Prince ‘Abd al Qadir. As suggested, Pru¨fer traveled to Switzerland in late September to attempt to convince the prince to come to Germany, but the mission failed, and the prince decided to remain in Zu¨rich. A dispatch by Romberg in Bern to the AA on 5 October 1918 relayed Pru¨fer’s report: “Prince ‘Abd al Mun’aim, who is completely under pressure from recent events, told Nureddin that he is thinking of betaking himself to the English Palestine front soon. English have approved official financial requirements: he receives 1,000 lira monthly. Engagement with daughter of Sultan Fuad apparently imminent. According to Nureddin, opinion is consequently that every further step which would still have been promising four weeks ago is today become hopeless.” McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 55; NARA, T137/138. NARA, T137/139. A bedouin town in the northern Najd on the Baghdad – Medina hajj route, and the capital of the Rashidi-ruled emirate. British Admiralty War Staff, Intelligence Division, A Handbook of Arabia, Vol. 1, London, UK, 1917, pp. 24, 26, 30, 31. A town and Hijaz Railway stop on the hajj route between Damascus and Medina. Handbook Arabia, Vol. 2, pp. 13, 37. Prince Mehmet Burhanettin Effendi (1885 – 1949), son of Abdu¨lhamid II. Cemal Savas¸kan, Kudret Emirogˇlu, Arnavutluk’tan Sakarya’ya komitacılık: Yu¨zbas¸ı Cemal’in anıları, Ankara, Turkey, 1996, p. 29. Two weeks after Pru¨fer wrote this letter, Bulgaria surrendered on 30 September, leaving the road to Constantinople wide open to advancing Allied armies. Throughout October, the EEF took most of Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia. At this point, the Turks saw no choice but to surrender. Grand vizier Izzet Pasha relayed what he hoped would be reasonable surrender terms to the British through General Charles Townshend, but the British

NOTES

150. 151.

152.

153.

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negotiators who met the Turks at Mudros on the Aegean isle of Lemnos, while not vengeful, were in no mood to be generous. The armistice signed on 30 October ended the war in the Middle East. Friedman, Miscalculations, pp. 2, 9– 11; McKale, War, p. 226. NARA, T136/94/Turkei 158, Band 21. German Orient Institute, the AA-financed organization created to tie up loose ends with Arab and Turkish allies at the end of the war. McKale, Pru¨fer, p. 65. During the war, actor Max Landa portrayed the fictional detective Joe Deebs in a series of motion picture films, modeled after the stereotypical pipe-smoking, tweed-clad British detective. Klaus Kreimeier, The Ufa Story: A History of Germany’s Greatest Film Company, 1918– 1945, Berkeley, CA, 1999, p. 36. A major German propaganda film studio founded in 1917 on the order of Erich Ludendorff. Ibid., pp. 3 – 4, 7 – 8.

Epilogue 1. The three escaped across the Black Sea on the night of 1 – 2 November by German motorboat. Kevorkian, p. 721; NARA, T139/393, 11/8/18, unsigned letter to the AA. 2. Even Max von Oppenheim, the prince of Germany holy war theorists, admitted that the propaganda campaign had been an impotent “punch into the water.” Lionel Gossman, The Passion of Max von Oppenheim: Archaeology and Intrigue in the Middle East from Wilhelm II to Hitler, Cambridge, UK, 2013, p. 105. 3. “I could see that if we won the war, the promises to the Arabs were dead paper”, T.E. Lawrence openly admitted afterwards. “Yet the Arab inspiration was our main tool in winning the eastern war. So I assured them that England kept her word in letter and spirit. In this comfort, they performed their fine things.” T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, New York, NY, 1935, pp. 275 – 6. 4. Scott Anderson, Lawrence in Arabia, New York, NY, 2013, pp. 485, 489, 491. 5. George Young, Egypt, London, UK, 1927, pp. 229– 61. 6. Anderson, 491; Phillip S. Khoury, Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920 – 1945, Princeton, NJ, 1987, pp. 100 – 101, 105 – 108. 7. Interestingly, one of the very few independent nations to emerge from the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire was Turkey itself, which successfully waged a war of independence against Allied occupation forces. Its new leader Mustafa Kemal Atatu¨rk declared Turkey a secular republic in 1923. Compounding the irony, Britain’s old client, Husayn, the king of Hijaz, suffered a completely opposite turn of fortune, getting deposed by the expansionist Ibn Sa’ud in 1924. Ibn Sa’ud later conquered all of Arabia, which is now the Kingdom of Sa’udi Arabia. Anderson, p. 493; Robin

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9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

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Bidwell, Dictionary of Modern Arab History, Oxon, UK, 2010, pp. 108, 200; John Patrick Douglas Balfour, Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries, New York, NY, 1977, p. 609. Pru¨fer’s failing marriage to his wife Frances, who had spent the war living in Lynn, Massachussetts, caused additional stress during this period. An interview with Frances’ friends and acquaintances by an American military intelligence officer in late 1918 revealed that communications from her husband had ceased by 1916. Frances began the war period very proGerman, but after a change of heart, she became very depressed and began to appear visibly, terribly aged. For the remainder of the war, she kept to herself and avoided her friends. Frances rejoined her husband in Germany in 1919, but his infidelities and the sharp political differences resulting from the war doomed the marriage. The two divorced in 1927. HIA, Offener Brief, pp. 5, 7; Donald McKale, Curt Pru¨fer: German Diplomat from the Kaiser to Hitler, Kent, OH, 1987, pp. 6, 56 – 64; NA, RG165, Entry 67, Box 379, File PF-25794, Document 25794 – 8, P.A. Kiernan to Director of Military Intelligence, 5 December 1918. McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 64 – 5. Armenian assassins eventually took justice into their own hands, killing Talaat in Berlin (1921) and Djemal in Tiflis (1922), while Enver fell in battle fighting Soviet forces in Turkestan (1922). Raymond Kevorkian, The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History, London, UK, 2011, p. 286; McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 64 – 7, 70 – 7; Spencer Tucker, Laura Matysek Vood, Justin D. Murphy, eds, The European Powers in the First World War, an Encyclopedia, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 218, 241, 680. McKale, Pru¨fer, pp. 79, 81, 87 –8, 97– 9. Ibid., pp. 98 – 9, 128, 130, 140. Ibid., pp. 142, 160, 163– 5, 178–87. He held only one more public post (1948 – 51) as a trainer for new diplomats in the Indian nationalist government. Ibid., pp. 179, 184. Ibid., p. 185.

Appendix I 1. Richard Euringer, Der Zug durch die Wu¨ste, Berlin, Germany, 1938, pp. 111–14. 2. I.e., the British. Ibid., pp. 25, 43, 60 – 1. 3. Public kitchens that distributed free food to the indigent in Ottoman lands. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XXXV:3, Winter 2005, Amy Singer, “Serving Up Charity: The Ottoman Public Kitchen”, p. 481.

Appendix II 1. Euringer, Zug, pp. 144 –6.

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INDEX

Aaronsohn, Aaron, 265 ‘Abbas Hilmi II, Khedive, 29, 191, 198, 216, 218, 284, 286 –9, 292, 294, 296, 300 in Belgium with entourage, 178 – 81 in Constantinople, 55, 171 – 5, 177, 216, 284, 287, 289, 292 –3, 300 deposition of, 252 family of, 171, 179, 182, 186, 188 –90, 215, 287 – 9, 293, 296, 300 in Germany with entourage, 177 – 8, 181 –8, 299 – 300 and influence with Sharif Husayn, 183 –4, 284, 292 and the kaiser, 180 – 1 mistrust for, 15, 17, 19– 20, 55, 190 –1, 284 and relations with British, 24, 182, 186, 188 – 9, 216, 252, 284, 287, 297, 299 and relations with Central Powers, 184, 216, 284, 287, 289, 293 –4, 296 and relations with Egyptian nationalists, 55, 178, 216, 218, 284, 286 ‘Abd al Hadi family, 28, 31, 230, 234, ‘Abd al Mun’aim, Prince Muhammad, 182, 186, 188 –90, 297, 300 ‘Abd al Qadir family, 25, 37, 228, 238 Emir ‘Ali, 34, 37–8, 228, 292

Emir Muhammad Sa’id, 37– 8, 90, 118, 228, 255 Abdu¨lhamid II, Sultan, 5– 6, 26, 179, 209, 217, 225 – 6, 243, 293, 295, 300 ‘Abdullah ibn Husayn, Emir, 64, 197, 248 Abyssinia, 89 –91, 255 Afghanistan, 98, 117, 170, 198, 215, 247 German-Turkish expedition to, 19– 20, 32, 37 –8, 170, 220, 236, 238, 286 ‘Akka, 29, 38, 48, 155, 158, 224, 232 Albania, 287, 299 Aleppo, 22, 24, 33, 35, 37– 9, 74, 89, 98, 141, 155, 157, 161, 164, 223 –4, 234, 260, 275 – 6, 281 Alexandretta, 21– 2, 46, 50, 223, 234, 259, 261 Alexandria, 1– 2, 18, 20, 32, 82, 94, 99, 100 –5, 232, 234, 243, 261 British fortifications in, 32, 45, 101 – 3, 234, 261 Entente troops in, 32, 45, 91, 102 and international police force, 100 –1, 206, 261 ‘Aleyh, 157, 281 Algeria, 25, 33, 36, 38, 74, 216, 218, 228, 238, 258 ‘Ali ibn Husayn, Emir, 201, 246

INDEX Amanus Mountains, 21, 141, 223, 277, 281, 284 amphibious Entente landing in Syria and Palestine, fears of, 23, 50, 94, 98– 9, 113 – 15, 259 – 60, 264, 285 Anatolia, 6, 21, 46, 50, 76, 100, 141, 153 – 4, 161, 164 –5, 210, 220, 222 – 3, 259 –60, 277, 280 – 1, 283 – 4 Antebi, Albert, 53, 245 ‘Aqaba, 23, 38, 46, 48, 51, 54, 56– 7, 177, 219, 225, 235, 238, 247 bombardment and landing attempts by British at, 35– 6, 38, 45, 237 capture by Arab rebels of, 225 Arabs, 4, 8, 38, 41, 64, 91– 2, 118 – 19, 145 – 6, 192, 208, 213, 222 – 3, 226, 229, 231, 236, 241, 254 – 5, 266 – 7, 279, 290 anti-Turkish attitudes of, 81, 110 –13, 177 among political postwar refugees, 197, 301 British competition for loyalties of, 16, 34– 6, 54, 57, 83, 85, 217 –8, 241, 254, 266 – 7, 292 Ententist sympathies of, 37, 39, 111, 165, 173, 237, 253, 263, 267 and German accusations of cowardliness and lack of discipline, 58, 77–9, 81, 109–11, 113, 177, 252 German doubts about loyalties of, 109, 111, 113 – 14, 116, 144, 241 German and Turkish attempts to buy loyalty of, 20, 23, 57, 79, 83, 217, 239, 241, 252, 290 as loyal Ottomans, 224 – 30, 242, 263 and notables, 24, 27 –9, 31, 35, 40, 46– 7, 50, 115, 158, 224 –30, 231 –2, 234, 237, 266, 292 in Ottoman army, 41, 77– 9, 81, 109, 144, 177, 212, 227, 252 and postwar turmoil, 196 –7, 199 –200, 285 promises of independence by Entente, 196, 252, 286

319

resentment of Germans by, 95, 177, 263 and Turkish nationalism, 6, 173, 202, 290 Arab nationalism, 28, 113, 190, 201 –3, 205, 224 –5, 228 –9, 231, 235, 237, 248, 264, 273, 298 and autonomy within Ottoman Empire, 6, 109 –10, 113 –14, 116, 183 – 4, 229, 239 – 40, 243 – 4, 271, 292, 298 and organizations, 26, 225, 229 –31, 239, 298 and separatism, 134, 166, 184, 237, 239, 243, 273, 286 Arab nationalist persecutions and Arab response, 207, 263 in Beirut and Damascus, 235, 238 –9, 263, 269 – 70, 281 Djemal and, 170, 196, 202, 207, 210, 228, 230 –1, 238 – 9, 263, 269 – 70, 281 and effect on nationalist movement, 113, 263, 270 and effect on Ottoman defeat, 196 hangings and condemnations during, 39, 228, 230 – 1, 239, 263, 269, 281 incriminating documents discovery and, 38, 235, 238 – 9 Turkish regrets about, 284, 292 Arab revolt, 53, 129 – 30, 132, 134 –5, 184, 225, 227 – 8, 235, 239, 243, 246, 248, 254, 263, 266 –7, 270, 273 –6, 278, 298 and effect on Entente war effort, 273 and other uprisings, 173, 273, 298 and railroad demolitions, 253 Arabia, 7, 35, 42, 56, 85, 89, 93, 119 – 20, 135, 145, 176, 190, 217 –18, 234, 236, 238 –9, 241, 247, 254, 271, 300 Arab revolt and, 273, 290 German-Turkish relations regarding, 54, 119 –20, 268 internal and foreign politics in, 173, 184, 201 – 3, 205, 219, 236, 254, 266 – 7, 270, 301

320

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Arabic language, 4 – 5, 20, 64, 88, 102, 143, 152, 176, 188, 206 – 7, 210, 227 – 8, 232 – 3, 237, 240, 242, 251, 255, 279, 282, 286, 291 Armenia, 23, 164, 173, 192, 213 and Armenian reform plan, 15– 16 and Armenian statehood, 172, 291 and deportations and genocide in Ottoman Empire, 7, 207, 210, 222 –3, 283, 302 effects of genocide on, 196, 210 German and Ottoman reactions to genocide, 204 – 5, 214, 222 –4, 226, 234, 251, 262 – 3, 277 and government justification for genocide against, 210 and Russians, 215, 217 ‘Arslan, Shakib, 24, 47, 170, 172, 175, 226, 284, 286, 289 –90 Austria-Hungary, 13, 27, 88, 97, 105, 172, 177, 212 –13, 230, 261 – 2, 284, 286, 290, 293, 299 and alliance with Germany, 2, 7, 206, 211 diplomats of, 14, 38, 42, 127, 129, 140, 185, 272, 277, 294, 299 military operations of, 130, 132, 173, 213, 246, 274, 290 troops of, 13, 95, 127, 129, 130, 132, 139, 153 – 5, 157, 162, 270 al ‘Ayyubi Pasha, Shukri, 38, 238 Azerbaijan (Tatar Republic), 172, 288 – 9 Baghdad, 214, 283, 300 Balkan peninsula, 209, 220 and Balkan Wars, 6 – 7, 24, 215, 226, 248, 260 guerrilla insurgents in, 215, 235 Ballobar, Consul Antonio de la Cierva y Lewita, Conde de, 41, 124, 127, 129 – 30, 140, 158 –9, 241, 265, 271 al Bana, Hajj Bashir, 24, 29, 31, 34, 37, 41– 2, 48, 125, 143, 156, 175 Basra, 15, 39, 49, 85, 98, 216, 229, 239, 260

al Bassam, Muhammad, 34 –6, 38– 40, 42, 49, 57, 85, 236 battles outside Ottoman Empire Belgium, 28, 55, 231, 246 China, 39, 222, 239 France, 13, 20, 55, 183, 188, 212, 222, 246, 295, 298 Italy, 173, 290 North Sea, 91, 255 Russian Empire and Balkans, 13–14, 55, 130, 132, 213, 183, 246, 274, 298 bedouins, 4, 23, 32, 41, 56– 7, 60, 73, 118 –19, 202, 217, 230, 234, 239, 241, 256, 267, 300 and issues with military discipline, 57– 8, 81, 83, 109 – 10 fighting for Turks by, 25, 30, 42, 51, 58, 60, 212, 225, 227, 236, 271 Lawrence’s views on, 253 – 4 Beersheba, 31, 54, 57, 63, 65, 75, 79, 82, 94, 106, 125, 127 – 9, 131 –2, 134 –5, 139 – 40, 162, 233 –4, 236, 240, 246, 248 – 9, 253, 269, 271, 274, 282, 284 Beirut, 23– 5, 28– 9, 33, 35, 37– 8, 42, 46, 48, 94, 98, 100, 104, 112, 115, 143, 157, 226 – 7, 237, 241, 251, 264, 266, 276 nationalist riots in 1913, 26, 229 public mood in, 111 –13 Belgium, 178 –81, 246, 294 – 6 and German occupation government, 178 – 9, 294 –5 Ben Yehuda, Eliezer, 53, 245 – 6 Berlin, 6, 8, 13, 18– 20, 36, 53, 80, 104, 112, 171 –2, 174 – 5, 178, 180 – 2, 188, 190, 194, 207, 225, 238 –9, 246, 255 –6, 260, 264, 278 –80, 282, 286 – 7, 289, 293 – 7, 299, 302 Bern, 173 – 4, 260, 284, 289 – 90, 293, 299 –300 Bernstorff, Ambassador Johann Heinrich, Count von, 173–4, 177, 290, 292–3, 292 Bessarabia, 112, 264, 266 Bethmann-Hollweg, Reichschancellor Theobald von, 211, 261, 263, 278

INDEX Bir al ‘Abd, 66, 129, 136 – 40, 249, 274 – 6 Black Sea, 18, 35, 40, 215, 236 – 7, 260, 288, 290 – 1, 301 Brasch, Captain Georg, 32, 42, 64, 68– 71, 73, 78, 82, 123 – 5, 133 – 9, 141 –4, 234 Bro¨de, Consul Heinrich, 41, 47, 124, 127, 129, 140 – 1, 158 – 9, 169, 241, 271, 285 Bu¨ge, Consul Eugen, 21, 155, 164, 223 Bulgaria, 14, 105, 151, 177, 209, 213, 251 and border dispute with Turks, 170 – 1, 260, 286 and participation in war, 7, 300 Bu¨low, Ambassador Bernhard Heinrich Martin Carl, Count von, 94, 104 – 5, 258 Cairo, 27, 29, 34, 45, 56, 58, 64, 145, 179, 229, 243 –4, 249, 253 – 4, 256, 282, 298 and ANZAC riots in, 94, 97, 103 – 5, 259 and Arab nationalists, 248, 266 Entente troops in, 44– 5, 94, 103, 231, 261 German diplomats in, 4, 88, 143, 206, 212, 242, 277, 293 Shepheard’s Hotel, 94, 258 camels, 38– 40, 44, 49, 51 –2, 55– 9, 64, 66– 7, 69, 73 –5, 80, 85, 103, 106, 108, 128, 131 –2, 136, 140, 201, 230, 236, 239, 241, 244, 256, 271, 274, 276 Canada, 270 capitulations, abolition, 8, 18–19, 219–20 Caucasus, 226, 247, 288 –9, 291 Armenian massacres in, 172 Germans in, 172, 288 – 9 and pan-Turanism, 210 Russian evacuation of, 288 and Transcaucasus Federation, 172, 288 Turkish claims in, 8, 172, 247, 289, 291 censorship, 53, 194, 294

321

of British media in Egypt and Sudan, 94, 102, 221, 252, 257 of Ottoman mail system, 36, 47, 50, 96– 7, 104, 221, 259 of Ottoman media, 54, 150, 244, 274, 280, 292 Christians, 25, 53, 83, 192, 204, 226, 232 –3, 235, 241, 243, 246, 273 and German Templer sect, 224, 228, 232 and pro-Entente attitudes, 24, 111 – 12, 264, 285 and threat of massacres, 39– 40, 226, 240 – 1 Circassians, 24, 33, 226, 235, 240 Cohn, Ephraim, 124, 159, 161, 260 Cohn, Jack, 92, 100, 256, 260 – 1 Constantinople, 1, 8, 14– 20, 26, 40, 49, 74, 91– 2, 97, 140 –4, 150 –3, 165, 169, 176 –7, 213 – 14, 218, 222, 259 –61, 267, 277, 280, 282 and Arab relations, 117, 134, 184, 243, 293 German diplomats in, 14– 21, 42, 50, 89, 94, 110, 117, 142 –3, 172 – 5, 177, 182, 214, 218, 268, 277 – 8, 286, 295 and German embassy, 14 –16, 18– 20, 29, 32, 38, 52, 88, 97, 105, 142, 144, 170, 175 –7, 193, 213 –14, 221, 234, 245, 251, 261, 268, 277 – 9, 286 German military in, 15, 38, 43, 57, 84, 86, 95, 155, 159 –60, 173, 215, 220, 242, 245, 277 history and peoples of, 213 military threats against, 99, 255 Ottoman government in, 135, 169, 176, 184, 196, 217, 224, 234, 263, 277, 284 Ottoman military in, 34, 36, 66, 161, 183, 215, 226 postwar crimes tribunals in, 198 construction of roads and rail, 56, 59, 79, 106 –7, 222 – 3, 236, 242 –3, 253 Crimea, 170, 286 Cromer (Evelyn Baring), Lord, 64, 248

322

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Damascus, 15, 33, 35, 39– 41, 46– 7, 50, 55, 98, 141, 157, 160, 190, 209, 226, 234, 237, 276 and annual hajj, 224, 229, 244 and Arab nationalist movement, 224, 235, 238, 243, 269 – 71 Djemal’s arrival in, 243 German diplomats in, 29, 42, 49, 143, 220, 241 German expats and military in, 20, 22, 24, 26, 31– 2, 47, 50, 52, 57, 227, 240, 242 as Hijaz Railway hub, 190, 219, 242, 253, 300 pro-Ottoman sentiments of, 91, 113, 224 Dardanelles, 14– 16, 23, 94, 96, 108, 229, 258 – 9, 260, 290 Entente casualties resulting from, 94, 99, 257, 261 –2, 269 Entente naval bombardment and landing at, 36, 255 German troops at, 215, 272 Jewish troops at, 112, 264 – 5 movement of Entente troops and equipment to, 91, 99, 102 – 3 redeployment of Ottoman troops from, 98, 259 Dera’a, 83, 157, 160, 219, 228, 253, 281 disease and sickness, 76, 96, 129, 134, 137, 141, 156, 160, 162 – 3, 210, 242, 258, 272 Dizengoff, Meir, 117, 266 Djavid Bey, Mehmet, 15, 26, 177, 180, 182, 190, 217 Djemal Pasha, Ahmet, 7, 14, 26, 42 –3, 47– 50, 58, 83, 91, 94, 110 –11, 135, 145, 159 –61, 165, 170, 198, 212, 225 – 6, 233, 237, 243 – 5, 246, 254, 262, 265 –8, 268, 283, 285 and Arab nationalist persecutions, 228, 230 – 1, 238 – 40, 263, 269 –70, 281 and Arab revolt and reconciliation attempts, 129, 201 – 2, 271, 292 and Armenian genocide and massacres, 204 –5, 223

flight, court conviction and assassination of, 196, 301 –2 and recalled following loss of Palestine, 284 and first Suez expedition, 63, 65 –8, 70, 81, 232, 247 – 9, 251 and second Suez expedition, 96, 126 – 7, 139, 253, 262, 272 Turkish nationalist views of, 96, 210, 259 and views on nationalist separatism, 243 and views on Zionism, 169, 264, 285 Djemal Pasha, General Mersinli, 35, 42, 53, 63, 160, 237 – 8, 244, 247 –8, 278, 283 Do¨nmeh, 217, 233 Druze, 24, 81, 139, 226, 228, 276 Edirne (Adrianople), 14, 99, 210, 213, 260 Egypt, 2, 5, 9, 15 –9, 24, 26, 28, 31– 4, 40–1, 43 –6, 48– 9, 51– 2, 54, 56–60, 65, 74, 79, 85, 87 –8, 92, 96, 98– 9, 104 – 7, 143, 150, 170, 173, 182, 184, 189, 191, 208, 215, 217, 220, 228, 230, 232, 235, 237, 240 –3, 247, 249 – 51, 254, 257, 260, 266, 276 – 7, 282, 289, 292, 294, 298 –9 Anglo-Egyptian border and internal security forces in, 1, 17, 27, 66, 100 – 1, 165 –6, 219, 234, 261 British invasion and rule in, 1, 4, 8, 206, 218, 248, 252, 261, 286 and British promises of independence, 197, 252, 286 and British wartime measures, 1, 100, 103, 206, 221, 252 Entente troops in, 35, 44 –5, 66– 7, 91, 94, 97, 99, 102, 103, 108 – 9, 229, 231, 252, 257 –8 German diplomats in, 4, 277, 293 German imperial interests in, 181, 284, 293 and hopes for independence, 197, 286 Jews in, 87, 254

INDEX and nationalism, 4, 18, 27, 45, 55, 83, 86, 178, 206 –7, 216, 218, 221, 246, 284 postwar disturbances in, 197 – 8 public mood in, 8, 45, 99, 102 – 3, 219, 252 sultans of, 82, 182, 190, 252 – 3, 296 –7, 300 westerners’ complaints of cowardice of, 59, 78 –9, 81, 86, 93, 99, 252 Ekrem Bey, 25– 6, 53, 63– 5, 67, 70 –1, 227 El ‘Arish, 33, 38, 41, 54, 57– 8, 73, 82, 96, 124 –5, 127 – 40, 144, 235 –6, 270, 272, 274 –6 Enver Pasha, Ismail, 26, 179, 183 – 4, 214, 287 – 8 and Arabs, 201 – 2 and Armenian genocide, 204 – 5 campaigns against Suez Canal and Caucasus, 247, 262 and conflict with fellow triumvirs, 174, 302 escape from Constantinople of, 196, 301 favors entering war, 16, 217, 237 leadership of Young Turk Revolution, government and military by, 6, 17, 23, 32, 34, 209, 215 – 16, 225, 236, 259, 283, 289, 295 at odds with Germans, 7– 8, 170, 174, 252 and pan-Turanism, 210 postwar career and death in battle, 198 pro-German attitude, 6, 16 –17 touring front and rear areas, 67, 159 –60 war planning by, 14– 15, 17, 19, 20, 25 Eritrea, 89, 99, 255 Ethiopia, 198, 255 Euringer, First Lieutenant Richard, 201, 204, 211, 268 –9 Faik Pasha, General Su¨leyman, 25, 33– 7, 229 Falkenhayn, General Erich von, 155, 281, 283

323

Farid, ‘Ahmad Bey, 170 –1, 173, 286 Farid, Muhammad, 16, 18, 55, 182, 218, 220, 286 Fast family, 30– 1, 42, 53, 64– 5, 124, 140, 158, 248 Berthold Fast, 74, 132 Friedrich Fast, 82, 233 Theodor Fast, 233 Faysal ibn Husayn, Emir, 134, 145 – 6, 197, 201, 225, 228, 230, 235, 238, 241, 270 –1, 278, 292 ¨ mer, 15 –17, 20, 24, 26, Fevzi Bey, O 34–5, 38, 215 Fischer, Captain Adolf, 37, 67, 69– 70, 73, 129, 131, 135, 158, 238 France, 19– 20, 91, 94, 104 –5, 116 –17, 179, 207, 216, 229, 245, 252, 265, 287 and citizens in Ottoman Empire, 39 and consulate documents, 38, 235, 239, 269 cultural influence in Arab world of, 111, 151, 192 fighting in, 20, 212 –13, 222 pro-French people on both sides, 16, 173, 228, 245 promises to Arabs and postwar revolts by, 196 –7 rejection of Alexandretta landing by, 259 support sought by Lebanese separatists, 264 war declaration against Central Powers by, 237 France, armed forces, 91, 94, 98, 102, 112 air force, 44, 69, 90, 134, 250 Army of Africa, 102, 238 navy, 27, 44, 76– 7, 89– 90, 102 – 3, 250, 255, 258 turcos, 94, 258 Frank, Fritz, 25, 27, 38 –9, 53, 66, 73 –5, 132, 228 Frank, Theophil, 27, 29– 30, 32, 40, 46, 156, 158 Frankenberg und Proschlitz, Colonel Werner von, 43, 46–50, 65– 6, 70, 242

324

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Frobenius, Leo, 89– 90, 118, 255 Fuad, Dr ‘Ahmad, 17 –18, 49– 50, 55, 165, 191, 218 Fuad, Sultan ‘Ahmad, 182, 190, 253, 297, 300 Fuad Bey, Lieutenant Colonel ‘Ali, 64, 73, 77– 8, 248 Geneva, 20, 184, 218, 299 Georgia, 171 – 2, 174, 195, 198, 215, 247, 288 Germany, 5, 19, 43, 57, 74, 85, 104, 120, 125, 171 – 2, 175, 185, 188, 205, 213, 223, 233, 236, 241, 246, 273, 283, 289, 302 declaration of war by Britain and Egypt, 206 defeat in 1918, 2, 196 – 7, 298, 302 July Crisis, 211 Germany, armed forces, air force, 42, 143 – 4, 158, 244, 272, 278, 282, 289 and lack of air forces in Middle East, 51, 59, 79, 81, 109, 244 Germany, army, 15– 16, 19– 22, 25– 6, 30– 2, 35– 9, 41, 46 –7, 50, 52– 4, 59, 63– 7, 69, 71– 5, 77, 79 –81, 83– 4, 94, 96 –7, 109 – 10, 124 – 5, 129, 132, 134, 136, 139, 142 – 3, 154 – 6, 161, 164 –5, 171 – 4, 176, 179, 210, 213, 215, 222, 231 – 2, 238, 243, 246, 249, 251 – 2, 259, 267 – 8, 274, 276 –7, 288, 296 –7, 300 – 1 and adventurers, posers and unqualified personnel, 58, 84, 95, 224 and Belgian military government, 294 –5 and “German Lawrences”, 3, 220, 228 and Supreme Army Command (OHL), 171 –2, 211, 295 and Sektion Politik, 93, 119, 212, 267, 278 and Syria/Palestine front, 276, 281, 283 Germany, armed forces, Flight Detachment, 300

Pasha, 124 – 44, 158 –9, 172, 201 – 5, 268 – 78, 282 attack on Romani by, 138, 275 – 6 and harsh desert flying conditions, 269 moves from Beersheba to el ‘Arish, 130 – 1, 274 Germany, armed forces, navy, 15, 166, 172, 214, 219, 255, 267, 272, 289, 301 Germany, empire, 107, 211 Africa colonies of, 262 Asian and Pacific colonies of, 239, 262 imperial interests in Ottoman Empire of, 2, 5, 206, 211 imperialist factions in, 5, 208 – 9 Germany, Foreign Office (or AA) and various diplomats, 1, 3 – 5, 7– 8, 13, 17, 37, 42, 49, 54, 75, 81, 88, 92–4, 97, 105, 143 –5, 149 – 50, 152, 170, 178 –85, 187 –8, 190 – 1, 198 –9, 206 –8, 211 – 12, 220 – 1, 240 –1, 254, 258, 260, 267 – 9, 279, 284, 290, 294, 296 – 7, 298, 300 Germany, politicians, 172, 179, 184, 289, 295, 298 Germany, Turkish alliance, 2, 7 – 8, 215, 227, 246, 263, 290 motives for establishing, 2, 7 and resentment of Turks towards Germans, 174, 179, 270 Ghaza, 51, 54, 74, 94, 123, 126, 131, 137, 233, 240, 282, 284 –5 Goltz, Field Marshal Colmar Baron von der, 43, 242, 251 Gondos, Georg, 54, 56, 71, 242, 250, 260 Great Britain, 5, 17, 57, 92 –4, 104, 112, 162, 216, 229 – 30, 256 – 7, 267, 276, 280, 299 – 302 Great Britain, armed forces, air forces, 67–72, 78, 80, 98, 130 –3, 135 –6, 138 –40, 250, 269, 275 Great Britain, armed forces, army, 23, 228, 254, 264 – 5 ANZAC corps in, 257 – 9 Australians in, 38, 67, 78, 90– 1, 94, 97, 99, 101 – 2, 258, 267, 269 – 70, 275

INDEX camel rider units in, 44, 51, 103 in Caucasus, 172, 288 – 9 at Dardanelles, 36, 91, 94, 96, 98– 9, 102 –3, 108, 112, 215, 255, 258 –9 in Egypt, 32, 35, 43– 5, 100 – 2, 108, 228 –30, 243, 250, 252, 258 Egyptians in, 23, 27, 32, 44 –5, 55, 66, 94, 99, 102, 250, 257 in France, 13, 183, 212, 222 Gurkhas in, 78, 250 Indians in, 17, 19 –20, 27, 32 –3, 38, 43– 5, 55, 58, 67, 78, 91, 94, 99, 103, 250, 261, 287 in Libya, 220, 253, 290 in Mesopotamia, 98, 216, 239, 243, 260, 283 – 4 and mistreatment of commonwealth troops, 55, 99, 102, 261 and movement of British and British commonwealth troops, 17, 19, 27, 33, 38, 45, 91, 99 New Zealanders in, 67, 78, 94, 102, 138, 250, 258, 269, 275 in Persia, 172, 220, 260, 280 in Sinai, 43, 96, 137, 236, 238, 269 Sudanese in, 51, 55, 78 at Suez Canal, 35, 43– 4, 58, 71, 250 territorials in, 94, 258 in Thrace, 99 in Transjordan, 237 yeomanry in, 44, 258 Great Britain, armed forces, Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) in Palestine, 271, 276, 282, 284 –5, 300 in Sinai, 269, 272 –3, 275 in Syria, 225, 276, 284, 300 Great Britain, armed forces, navy, 7 –8, 23, 89, 91, 255, 272 at ‘Aqaba, 38 at Dardanelles, 255 in Egypt, 44, 103 in Red Sea, 242, 250 in Sinai, 139, 274 Great Britain, campaigns, first Suez Canal expedition British casualties of, 82– 3, 253

325

British commonwealth troop concentrations during, 35, 43– 4, 103, 250 British fortifications and military planning for, 32, 43– 4, 49, 71, 87, 99, 103, 108 Entente navy during, 17, 44, 69 –73, 76–7, 91, 108 – 9, 250 Great Britain, campaigns, second Suez Canal expedition battle at Romani and British conquest of Sinai during, 275 –6 casualties, British, of, 139 fight at Oghratina and Qatiya before, 272 Great Britain, empire African colonies of, 107, 262 Great Britain, foreign relations alliance with Japan, 20, 222, 239 diplomats, 34, 38– 9, 85, 174, 229, 239, 252, 284, 287, 298 – 9 cultural influence in Middle East, 111, 192, 264 negotiations for Ottoman neutrality by, 15, 23 negotiations with Sanussis by, 238, 242 peace negotiations with Turks by, 173 – 4, 185, 299 – 301 Great Britain, war declaration of war on Central Powers, 1, 206, 237 holy war threat, 1– 2 Entente allies, 7, 196, 213, 264 promises of independence to Arabs and postwar empire, 196 –8, 286 Greece, 16, 29, 99, 104, 116, 155, 192, 207, 209, 213, 224, 237, 240, 264, 281, 287 Grobba, Fritz, 132 – 3, 159, 274 Hafir al ‘Awja, 30, 32, 54, 65, 67, 74 –5, 79–80, 106, 135, 139 –40, 222, 233, 248 –9, 251 Haifa, 22– 9, 31 –2, 39, 41, 48– 9, 51, 75, 94, 111, 113, 116, 157 –8, 219 – 20, 224, 230 –2, 232, 240, 265 Halim Pasha, Grand Vizier Sa’id, 15– 16, 172, 180, 215, 237

326

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Hall, Salomon, 89– 91, 251, 255 –6 Hamba, ‘Ali Bash, 165, 173, 284 Hassan Bey, 41–2, 241 Hayri Effendi, S¸eyhu¨lislam Urgu¨plu¨ Mustafa, 232, 240 Hebron, 54, 63, 79, 82, 247 – 8 Heemskerk, Captain Eduard von, 124 – 5, 127, 130 – 1, 134 –6, 139 – 40, 270 – 1 Hertling, Georg, Count von, 180 –1, 291 Hijaz, 15, 33, 38, 53 –4, 89, 117 –20, 129, 135, 145, 190, 217, 220, 225, 227, 235 – 7, 239, 247, 266, 270 – 1, 279, 301 Hilgendorff, Lieutenant Fritz, 21– 3, 25, 30– 2, 39, 41, 222, 227 – 8, 234 Hintze, Foreign Minister Paul von, 175, 178, 291 Hohenlohe O¨hringen, Prince Friedrich von, 123 –5, 136, 173 – 4, 178, 180, 182 – 4, 270 holy war, declaration of, 38, 40, 237, 240 and improvised manner of campaign, 8, 212 and theory, 1 –2, 208, 211, 301 holy war, fomenting jihad and revolt in Abyssinia, 255 in Afghanistan, 220 in Arabia, 54, 215, 241 in the Caucasus, 18, 150, 215 in Egypt, 1, 4 – 5, 8, 15– 17, 18– 9, 24, 28, 34 –5, 45, 48, 52, 56, 59 –60, 79, 80 –2, 88, 93, 99, 150, 170, 211, 216, 230, 237, 240 –1, 252, 286 in Hijaz, 22, 38, 52 –4, 59 in India, 15, 18, 20, 35, 150, 216, 239 –240, 257, 274 in Lebanon and Beirut, 23, 34, 51 in Libya, 216 – 17, 221, 242, 289 – 90 in North Africa 18, 38, 183, 278, 290 in Palestine and Jerusalem, 59, 144, 149, 158 – 9, 245, 255 in Persia, 220 in Sudan, 27, 32 –3, 92 –3, 107, 120, 230, 255, 267

in Syria and Damascus, 4, 32, 34 –5, 51– 2, 59, 88, 144, 149, 156, 215 – 16, 235, 237, 240 – 1, 244 – 5, 256 holy war propaganda, 51 –4, 64, 118, 191 –6, 212, 215 – 16, 224 –5, 245 and abandonment of jihadist messaging, 279 criticisms of, 14, 196 and distribution and production problems, 144 –5, 149, 191 – 2 and public rallies, 41, 51, 59, 241, 245 unsuitability of propaganda material, 79, 150, 152, 192, 194 –5, 280 holy war, sabotage/guerrilla operations, in Egypt, 1, 7, 16– 18, 25– 6, 29–31, 33– 5, 40, 42 –3, 45– 6, 48, 56, 58, 206, 240, 242, 250 in Lebanon and Syria, 25– 6, 40, 227 in Sudan, 92 –4, 257 holy war, response and failure of the mission, 79, 81, 93, 95, 196, 199-200, 230, 254, 263, 273, 301 and Muslim defections to Turks, 51, 55, 99, 196, 238 and Ottoman Christian fears of massacres, 39– 40, 240 – 1 and public mood, 59, 79, 95, 96, 191, 193, 230 Hoofien, Eliezer, 117, 266 Humann, Hans, 14, 17– 18, 32, 37, 214 Husayn ibn ‘Ali, 23, 34 –5, 237 – 8, 279, 298 appointed as caretaker of holy cities, 225 and Arab revolt, 134, 239, 254, 266 – 7, 273 and bad relations with the Turks, 34– 5, 54, 118, 201 –3, 225, 236, 271 communications with British by, 117 – 18, 202 – 3, 225, 248, 266, 292 complaints about British allies by, 292 and Germans, 118, 267, 293, 298

INDEX postwar defeat of, 301 and reconciliation moves by Turks, 166, 184, 284, 288 – 9, 292 – 3 and suspicions of treason, 36, 53– 4, 117 –19, 129, 241, 266, 271, 290 Husayn, Prince Kamal ad-Din, 82, 253 ibn Rashid, Shaykh Sa’ud ‘Abd al ‘Aziz, 16, 33– 6, 85, 117, 176, 190 –1, 217 – 18, 241, 279, 292, 300 ibn Sabah as-Sabah, Mubarak, 117, 267 ibn Sa’ud, Shaykh ‘Abd al ‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman, 16, 33 –6, 85, 117, 218, 236, 239, 241, 254, 267, 301 Ibni, 66– 7, 73– 5, 84, 96, 249, 253, 259, 272 al ‘Idrisi, Sayyid, 36, 145, 166, 238, 279 India, 18, 35, 98, 108, 150, 220, 247, 260, 266, 302 and importance of in British Empire, 8, 211, 286 and Indian revolutionaries, 20, 34, 37– 8, 42, 53, 92, 239, 257 intelligence operatives (American), 260 – 1, 265, 302 intelligence operatives (British), 2, 4, 37, 47, 73, 120, 174, 268, 274 Arabs and bedouins, 36, 117 – 18, 171, 237, 249 British intelligence agencies (Arab Bureau, EMSIB, MI-1c), 259, 290–1 counter-intelligence and misinformation, 100, 255 –6, 258 –9, 261 diplomatic and military spies, 100, 164, 174, 290, 299 double agents, 103, 256 Indians, 38– 9 Italo-Egyptian intelligence, 100 –1, 103 –4, 166, 261 Jews and NILI spy ring, 98, 207, 231, 265, 282, 285 intelligence operatives (French), 207 intelligence operatives (German) and Americans (including first and second Pru¨fer spy rings), 48, 53, 86, 97, 100, 256, 260, 261, 264

327

and Arabs (including first and second Pru¨fer spy rings), 24, 27 –32, 34– 42, 46, 48 –9, 78– 9, 84– 6, 125, 143, 156, 175, 212, 231, 236, and bedouins, 49, 66, 75, 242 and Entente nationals, 258 and German civilians, 23, 26– 7, 89– 93, 211, 221, 228, 230, 257 and German complaints about Arab spies, 78 –9, 85– 6 Jews (first and second Pru¨fer spy rings), 48, 92– 4, 97– 105, 255 –7, 260 – 1 and military intelligence, 97, 211, 212 intelligence operation zones (German), 212 Alexandria, 23, 26 –7, 82 –3, 86, 100 – 2, 104 –5, 221, 261 Arabia, 176, 212, 230, 235, 292 Damascus, 24, 36– 7, 48– 52, 84 –5, 110 – 17, 143 Cairo, 86, 94, 98, 103 – 5, 221, 260 Constantinople, 5, 59, 86, 104 – 5, 110, 143, 146, 165, 169, 190, 290 Egypt, 8, 31– 2, 34– 5, 40, 48– 9, 51, 55, 85– 8, 92– 3, 97 –9, 143, 212, 257, 260 Jerusalem, 92, 94, 100, 103 – 4, 166, 254 – 6, 265 Palestine, 86, 92, 143, 251, 259, 261, 283 Switzerland, 92, 104, 166, 181 –2, 237, 257, 260, 287, 289 – 90, 296, 299 Syria, 49, 143, 212, 235 intelligence practices, 8, 51, 86, 255, 258, 26 aerial intelligence-gathering, 51, 59, 78, 126, 268 arresting and interrogating spies, 1 –2, 31, 42, 86, 98, 100, 103 –4, 240, 260, 282 coded communication and invisible ink, 1, 32, 48, 87– 8, 103 –4, 291 double agents, 103, 256 false identities, 32, 48, 86, 91, 98, 100, 111, 255 – 6, 261, 264

328

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

misinformation attempts, 98, 255 –6, 259 monitoring agent loyalty, 86– 7 penetrating enemy ranks, 48, 85, 87, 94, 98, 100, 114 – 15, 228, 258, 261 –2 relaying of intelligence, 32, 48–9, 86– 8, 92, 104, 114 – 15 strategic travel routes, 24 –5, 28, 31– 2, 86, 94, 97, 103, 247, 260 surveillance and counter-intelligence, 100, 104, 143, 258, 261, 282, 289 –90, 296, 299 women agents, 86– 8, 92, 104 – 5, 247, 256, 262 Islahiya, 141, 155, 164, 277, 281 Islam, 20, 23, 88, 192, 196, 202, 217 – 18, 225, 227, 232 –3, 235 – 6, 241, 254, 266, 273, 297 and annual hajj, 28, 49, 52– 5, 119, 145, 217, 219 – 20, 224, 229, 231, 238 –9, 244, 247, 279 and holy flag, 52– 3, 59, 64, 73, 81, 245 and Muslims, 1 –2, 6, 8, 35, 39, 113, 173, 196 – 8, 200, 209, 211, 215 –17, 219, 222 – 3, 225 –6, 229, 231 –3, 236, 239 – 42, 244, 247 – 8, 255 –6, 263, 285 – 6, 288, 293 and religious holidays, 34, 45, 171, 236 and religious practices, 23, 64, 227, 248 sects of, 16, 33– 4, 37, 218, 236 and S¸eyhu¨lislam, 29, 232, 240 and sharifs, 23, 64, 225, 267 ‘Isma’iliyeh, 43 –4, 66, 69, 71, 74, 76, 80, 139, 243, 247, 249 –51, 253, 276 Italy, 26, 104, 116, 165, 255, 299 and African colonies, 19, 221, 255 and armed forces, 23 and diplomats, 16, 40, 218 and government, 90, 100, 238 and intelligence operatives and police, 102, 217, 255, 261 and Libyan war, 183, 242 and navy, 103

and neutrality and Entente sympathies, 43, 221, 246 and passenger and commercial ships, 90, 99– 100, 219, 261 and world war campaigns, 130, 274, 290 Izzet Pasha, General Ahmet, 171, 283, 287, 300 Ja¨ckh, Ernst, 206, 212 Jaffa, 32– 3, 35, 41 –2, 48, 53, 89, 94, 100, 104, 113, 117, 123, 170, 234, 240 –1, 255 – 6, 261 –2, 282 Japan, 20, 222, 239, 297 Jaussin, Father Antonin, 207 Jerusalem, 23, 29, 41– 2, 220, 224, 227, 229, 232 –4, 262, 282 and abolition of capitulations, 219 – 20 captured by British, 271, 284 Ententist sympathies in, 54, 91, 256, 259 German diplomats in, 25, 37, 39, 91– 2, 104, 141, 158 –9, 241, 256, 261, 271 holy sites in, 30 –1, 127, 140, 128, 233, 272 – 3, 282 and Hotel Fast, 30, 63, 124, 127 – 8, 232 – 3, 256 and Jews, 54, 246, 260 and kaiser’s state visits, 209 and Mount of Olives, 30– 1, 42, 124, 127, 233, 272 –3 as mustering, rear area for first Suez expedition, 53, 59, 63, 67, 73, 75, 242, 274 and second Suez expedition, 79, 94, 124 – 32, 140 T.E. Lawrence and, 232 Turkification measures in, 259 and Zionists, 113, 245 Jews, 25, 28, 33, 48, 53– 4, 74, 83, 86, 98, 103, 112–13, 159–60, 169–70, 186, 197–8, 209, 213, 217, 232–3, 241–2, 245–6, 254, 256, 261, 260–1, 264–6, 272, 276, 299 and anti-semitism, 198, 214, 256, 264, 289

INDEX Ententist sympathies of, 54, 112, 245 –6, 265, 285 German charges of cowardice against, 113 and Germany, 112 –13, 260, 264, 285 –6, 299 and hatred of Russian Jews for Russia, 113, 254, 256, 285 interventions with Djemal on behalf of, 233, 285 and organizations, 117, 245 – 6, 260, 264, 266 and recruitment as spies by Germans, 247, 254, 256 Jidda, 15, 33, 92, 117 – 18, 145, 217, 248, 266 – 7, 275, 290 Kahle, Professor Paul, 4, 257, 291 Kalckreuth, (first name unknown), 26, 32, 36, 64 Kamil Pasha, Husayn, 82, 102, 252 –3, 296 Kamil, ‘Isma’il Effendi, 55, 246 Kayyal, Hajj ‘Ali, 31, 33, 39– 40, 48 Kazim Effendi, 35, 48 Kazım (Orbay) Bey, Mehmet, 15, 216 Kemal (Atatu¨rk), Mustafa, 258, 263, 283, 290, 301 Khartoum, 257 Khaz’al, Shaykh ‘Ahmad, 117, 267 Kitchener, Lord Horatio, 129, 178, 248, 266, 273 Koch, Dr Carl, 74, 143, 251, 275 Koch, Martha, 251 Konya, 21, 33, 142, 154, 165, 222 – 3, 277, 281 Kraus, Consul Friedrich, 42, 127 –9, 140, 159, 272 Kress von Kressenstein, Colonel Friedrich, Baron, 18–22, 24–6, 30–7, 39–40, 42–3, 45–7, 49, 53, 63–71, 73, 76, 79, 81, 83–5, 94–6, 126–30, 134–6, 140, 158, 172, 174, 195, 219, 222, 227–8, 237, 247, 251, 253, 259, 261–2, 270–2, 274, 288 Ku¨bler, Vice Consul (first name unknown), 41, 158 –9

329

Ku¨hlmann, Ambassador Richard von, 175, 178, 182, 277, 291 Kurd ‘Ali, Muhammad, 40, 240, 263 Kurds, 20, 26, 66, 81, 210, 213, 217, 221, 225, 240 Kus¸cubas¸ı Sencer, Es¸ref, 33 –5, 39 –41, 222, 235 Kut al ‘Amara, 205, 242, 284, 287 Kuwait, 85, 254, 267 Laffert, Major Karl von, 14– 15, 214 Lake Bardawil, 66, 131 – 2, 137, 249 Lawrence, T.E., 224 – 5, 228, 232, 238, 241, 248, 253 – 4, 283, 301 and bedouin relations, 253 – 4 fame of, 3, 207 Lebanon, 24, 36, 47, 98, 226 – 7, 232, 234 –5, 237, 260, 273, 276 Christians in, 24, 264 German expatriates in, 23 grain hoarding and famine in, 226, 263 and hopes for anti-Turkish uprising, 239, 264 Ottoman military in, 24, 94, 160, 235 pro-Entente attitudes in, 23 –4, 39, 111, 264 Libya, 15, 55, 216 – 18, 220 – 1, 247, 253, 255, 290 and Tripolitan War, 6, 16, 183, 215, 218, 242 London, 203, 211, 287, 296 Lossow, Major General Otto von, 120, 142, 170 –2, 268, 288 Lo¨ytved-Hardegg, Consul Julius, 19, 22, 26–32, 34, 38– 42, 47, 49–50, 89, 129, 161, 220 Ludwig III of Bavaria, King, 185, 187, 299 Lusange, Andre´e de, 171, 174, 287 –8 Lutfallah, Habib, 36, 237 Ma’an, 18, 25 –6, 38, 45, 54, 56, 59, 219, 229, 240, 247 Maghrib, 16, 18, 218 Malta, 99, 104, 262 Mamure, 141, 155, 164, 277, 281 Massawa, 90, 255

330

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Maxwell, General John, 94, 98, 103, 237, 258 McMahon, Sir Henry, 266 Mecca, 22 –3, 34, 52– 3, 56, 117 – 19, 134, 145, 166, 184, 201, 217, 219, 225, 229, 235, 238, 244 – 5, 247 – 8, 266, 275, 279, 292 Medina, 29, 33, 36, 39, 52 –3, 59, 64, 81, 118, 130, 145, 191, 201, 225, 227, 230, 235 – 6, 246, 271, 274, 292, 298, 300 Mediterannean Sea, 219, 223 –4, 231, 234 – 5, 243, 261 –2, 290 Mehmet VI Vahideddin, Sultan, 176 – 7, 290, 293 Meissner Pasha, Heinrich August, 47, 59, 160, 243 Mentes¸e, Halil, 14, 171, 214, 237 Mesopotamia, 57, 85, 161, 164, 173, 210, 216 – 17, 221, 224, 227, 245, 259, 267, 271, 283, 288, 291, 297 – 8, 300 and Anglo-Indian invasion, 239, 260, 283 postwar uprisings in, 197 Meyerhof, Max, 208 Mez, Gustav, 92– 3, 221, 257 al Misri, ‘Aziz ‘Ali, 183 – 4, 298 Mittwoch, Eugen, 170, 280, 286 Moritz, Bernhard, 27, 32– 3, 35, 54, 230, 286 Morocco, 150, 172 – 3, 216, 218, 238, 254, 289 – 90 Mors, First Lieutenant Robert, 1 –2, 13– 16, 18, 20, 27, 31 –2, 40, 206, 221, 232, 240 Mosul, 24, 162 – 3, 227, 283 Muchtar Bey, Hajj, 38, 40, 239 al Muhammadiyyeh, 135 – 6, 138, 249, 275 Mu¨hlmann, Major Carl, 125, 127, 139, 159, 271 Mu¨mtaz, Izmitli Bey, 25, 30, 51, 58, 227, 235 – 6 Murad, Mufti Muhammad, 24– 5, 28– 9, 31, 40, 48, 227, 263 Musil, Alois, 42, 241

Mutius, Consul Gerhard von, 23, 25– 6, 38, 46– 7, 157, 226 Nablus, 25, 27 –8, 30– 1, 39, 41 –2, 49, 52, 228, 230 – 2, 234, 241 Najd, 15– 16, 85, 176, 191, 203, 217 –8, 234, 236, 254, 267, 279, 300 an-Naqib Bey, Talib, 39, 239 Nazim Bey, Dr Mehmet, 176, 291 –2 Neufeld, Carl, 119 – 20, 267 – 8 News Bureau for the Orient, 144, 146, 149 –52, 165, 170, 176, 178, 191, 197, 208, 238, 278 – 80, 282, 286, 297 and indoctrination of North African POWs, 38, 183, 238, 245 news room system of, 144, 149, 154, 156 – 9, 191, 193 – 5, 254, 279, 280 – 1 newspapers and media, 5, 52, 69, 94, 140, 149, 191, 193, 200, 244, 274, 276, 278 and Arabic media, 29, 31 –3, 36 –9, 49, 51, 55, 88, 97, 102, 116, 129, 145, 191, 207, 218, 232, 234 – 5, 238 – 40, 244, 246, 246, 279 and German media, 43, 170, 182, 187, 193, 208, 221, 242, 279, 286, 297 and inaccurate reporting, 51, 54 –5 and Jewish media, 54, 246, 265 and Ottoman public morale, 150 and Persian media, 150, 279 –80 and traditional wire services, 279 and Turkish media, 27, 151, 230, 279 – 80 Oghratina, 136, 138, 272, 276 oil and petroleum, 43, 56, 242, 247, 250, 259 –60, 265, 267, 288 Oppenheim, Max, Baron von, 4, 26, 33, 36, 50, 52– 3, 80, 89, 134, 178, 208, 238 –9, 254, 279, 283, 301 orientalists, 4 –5, 88, 174 –6, 182 – 3, 199, 207 –8, 230, 241, 245, 254, 257, 282, 286, 290 – 1, 297 and Seminar for Oriental Languages, 207, 282, 286

INDEX Ottoman Empire, 65, 74 –5, 80, 86, 88, 94, 96, 165 – 6, 175, 191 – 5, 224, 226, 229, 238 and Balkan War losses, 6, 209 – 10 European interventionism in, 7, 209, 219 –20 and Ottomanism, 6, 114, 209 and politico-economic weaknesses, 2, 5– 6, 196, 222 Russian threats against, 7, 29, 98 –9, 217, 236, 247, 260, 288 and Turkish nationalism, 6 – 7, 14, 59, 96, 209 – 10, 215, 291 Young Turk revolution and, 6 – 7, 209 –10, 213, 225, 291 Ottoman Empire, armed forces, and air force, 135, 144, 244, 269, 272, 278, 289 and army, 14 –17, 21, 36, 41– 2, 70, 83– 4, 89, 91, 99, 109, 131, 133 – 4, 155, 162, 164, 174, 216, 227, 242, 250, 274 – 5, 288 German complaints about, 23, 76, 81, 253 and navy, 1, 7 –8, 23, 35, 42, 96, 111, 172, 210, 219 – 20, 237 redeployment away from important fronts of, 96, 98, 108, 205, 259, 283, 288 Ottoman Empire, armed forces, units, 66, 247, 275, 288, and 4th Army, 50, 55, 80, 84, 94, 109, 111, 140, 144, 212, 215, 225, 227, 237, 242, 259, 274 and 10th Division, 46, 65, 71, 73, 76–8 and 25th Division, 75, 77, 248 and 73rd Infantry Regiment, 64, 68, 73, 76 and 74th Infantry Regiment, 68, 76 and 75th Infantry Regiment, 68, 76, 83 and Akıncı Regiment and other camel units, 66, 201, 271, 276 and Army Group Yıldırım, 281, 283 and Tes¸kilat-ı Mahsusa, 15, 17 –8, 33, 35, 212, 215 –16, 219, 222, 227, 235

331

and Tripoli Volunteer Detachment, 66, 248, 251 and VIII Army Corps, 15, 18, 24, 34, 37, 48, 51, 55, 58 –9, 76, 80, 85, 219, 237, 244 Ottoman Empire, campaigns in Armenia, 98, 129, 161, 260, 273, 283, 288 and Black Sea attacks, 35, 40, 215, 236 – 7 in the Caucasus, 130, 172, 205, 215, 229, 237, 247, 283, 287 in the Crimea, 286 in Mesopotamia, 98, 215 –16, 236, 242, 284 in Palestine and Syria, 172, 273, 276, 281 – 4, 288, 300 in Persia, 20, 98, 172 – 3, 220, 224, 236, 260, 280 Ottoman Empire, campaigns, first Suez, 1, 8, 16, 35, 45, 52– 84, 90– 1, 215, 221, 225, 227, 232, 235, 237, 247, 249, 260 –1, 286 alleged British atrocities during, 72– 3, 78 and battle and Turkish defeat, 72 –3, 76– 8, 80, 263 camel procurement for, 35, 38– 40, 49, 57– 8, 85, 106, 230, 236, 241 and casualties, Germans and Turks, 73, 78 desertions to British during, 83 and effect of attacks by Germans and Turks, 55, 91, 262 and German canal-blocking plot, 15, 18, 71, 78, 80, 107 – 8, 219, 222, 234, 277 and German mining plots against, 27, 29, 31, 33, 40, 57, 78, 108, 230 and inadequate men and equipment, 51, 58– 9 and initial skirmishes, 51, 272 and pontoon boats, 76 –7, 109, 250 and reconnaissance in force cover story, 73, 80

332

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

scouting and reconnaissance for, 24– 6, 29– 30, 38 –9, 49, 51, 55, 58– 9, 65– 6, 69 –71, 75– 6, 228 – 30, 238, 242 Ottoman Empire, campaigns, second Suez, 81, 88, 93– 9, 105 – 10, 259, 269, 271 – 2, 286 and battle and defeat of Turks, 138 –40, 275 –6 camel procurement for, 271 and objectives of expedition, 107, 262 rail and road construction for, 79, 106 –7, 110, 253 and scouting and reconnaissance, 109, 253, 268 and skirmishes, 93, 96, 99, 259, 262 Ottoman Empire, foreign relations, and alliance with Germany, 2, 7 – 8, 18, 211, 214, 217, 237, 246, 263, 277, 290 and Anglo-Turkish negotiations, 171, 173 –4, 185, 290 – 1, 299 and antagonism towards Germans, 24, 53, 83 –4, 95, 162, 177, 179 British naval advisory mission, 19, 220 and Entente and Ottoman war refugees, 35, 39 –41, 256, 261 exploitation of German alliance by, 2, 7– 8, 18 and German arrogance, 84, 95, 179, 258 –9, 270 German diplomats in, 54, 178, 211, 214, 218, 223 – 4, 226 –7, 233 – 4, 241, 255, 261, 268, 278, 281 – 2, 289 –90, 292 German expatriates in, 25, 157, 192, 206, 251 German military mission in, 5, 15, 20, 31, 84, 89, 143, 242, 274 – 5 German military, technical, fiscal aid to, 5, 34, 42, 78, 95 –6, 107, 108 –10, 219 – 20, 222, 237, 244, 246, 252, 262, 268 – 9 and good relations between Germans and Turks, 151, 226 neutrality of, 15 –16, 23, 211, 217, 222

Ottoman diplomats, 50, 104 –5, 173 – 4, 177 –8, 180, 183, 191, 218, 287, 296 restrictions on German activities by, 8 –9, 119, 150, 267 and suspicions of German motives in Middle East, 95, 252 – 3, 258, 262, 280 and Turkish partition and unification plans, 173, 177 Ottoman Empire, security forces, conventional and secret police, 23, 30, 32–3, 47, 66, 83, 110 – 11, 114, 142, 159, 165 –6, 190 –1, 212, 222, 226, 243, 256, 265, 284 Ottoman Empire, war defeat of, 2, 196 and Ottoman political refugees, 197 and partition of the empire (the Great Loot), 2, 6, 173, 197, 290, 301 and public attitudes about the war, 95– 6, 113, 150 – 1, 192, 196 requisitioning and conscription in, 59, 95, 241, 263 surrender at Mudros by, 291, 300 – 1 and Turks’ entry into war, 8, 14, 28, 35, 54, 214 –15, 237, 240 – 1, 257 Palestine, 27– 8, 30– 2, 40– 2, 52, 54, 56, 63–5, 82, 94, 131, 136, 158 – 60, 165, 224, 226 – 8, 230, 232 –5, 240 –1, 244, 246, 247 –8, 262, 265 –6, 270, 274, 282 anti-Turkish sentiments in, 53, 81, 170 Arabs in, 81, 109, 224, 227, 252 and Arab-Israeli conflict, 197, 285 biblical sites in, 28, 63, 231, 233 –4, 247, 276 and German colonies, 27, 30, 41, 128, 158, 224, 228, 230, 232, 255, 281 – 2 German interests in, 95, 262 German military in, 240, 269, 271, 276, 281 – 4 and Jews, 53, 112, 124, 159, 161, 245, 254, 256, 260, 264, 285 loyal Ottomans in, 224, 228

INDEX Ottoman government and, 229, 234 Ottoman military and, 81, 106 –7, 172, 225, 231, 252, 259, 273, 276, 281, 283 – 4, 288 and Palestine Germans, 25, 27– 32, 38– 41, 46, 49, 53, 66, 73 –5, 89– 91, 132, 156 – 8, 222, 228, 231 –2, 240, 245, 251, 255, 282, 285 public opinion and rumors in, 83, 110 strains of war (blockade, locust plague, famine, inflation) in, 258, 263 Zionists, 112 – 13, 245 – 6, 265 – 6, 285 Pan-German League, 208, 289 pan-Islamism, 4, 23, 55, 150, 207, 209, 215 – 16, 226, 238, 244, 246, 253, 259, 273, 278 –9, 284, 286 pan-Turanism, 209 – 10 Picot, Consul Francois Georges, 239 peace negotiations and Paris Peace Conference, 197 – 8, 245 and reconciliation attempts between Turks and Arab rebels, 129, 184 – 5, 228, 238, 284, 299 Persia, 19, 49, 85, 150, 173, 177, 222, 224, 260, 297 Anglo-Russian rivalries in, 98, 260, 280 foreign diplomats in, 172, 177, 220 –1 subversive activities in, 220 Philby, Harry St John, 254 Poland, 13, 104 –5, 183, 213, 262, 297 Port Sa’id, 27 –9, 37 –8, 40– 1, 44, 66, 82, 90, 98– 9, 103, 124, 126, 139, 229, 242, 250, 272, 275 Port Sudan, 92– 3, 217, 257, 267 prisoners of war, 1– 2, 20, 39, 66– 7, 91, 99, 132, 138, 162 – 4, 183, 238, 245, 249, 256, 262, 268, 270, 275, 280, 282, 284, 298 Pro¨bster, Edgar, 173, 290 Propaganda, anti-Entente, 20, 77, 150 –1, 216, 244 –5, 255, 267 – 8, 284, 286 and Arab revolt, 145, 273, 278 British, 39, 249, 278, 285, 290

333

in Constantinople, 82, 151 – 2, 170, 207, 279 and German nationalist, economic and cultural themes, 150 –1, 192 – 5, 279 – 80, 282, 294, 301 and government and military press censorship, 178, 289, 294, 297 Italian, 55 pro-Armenian, 164 pro-Entente, 190 in Sudan, 257 and Turks’ Gallipoli propaganda tour, 263 Pru¨fer, Curt, 2 –3 and aiding political refugees at war’s end, 197, 301 anti-semitism and Naziism of, 185, 197 – 9 Arabic and other linguistic abilities of, 4 –5, 88, 199, 207, 293 assignment to khedivial entourage of, 170 – 90, 284 – 300 concerns about treason and enemy espionage of, 16, 19 –20, 26, 34, 36– 8, 42, 47, 53, 55, 73, 80– 1, 83, 86– 7, 111 – 14, 163 – 6, 171, 174, 237 consular service in Cairo by, 4 counter-intelligence work and POW interrogation by, 67, 146, 165 – 6, 265, 268 creation of first Pru¨fer spy ring, 48 –9 creation of second Pru¨fer spy ring, 85– 8, 92 death of, 199 as director of News Bureau in Constantinople, 144 – 6, 149 – 165, 279 – 84 and first Suez Canal expedition, 50– 84 gathering of intelligence for Djemal by, 110 – 17, 161, 283 ill health of, 81, 89, 279 marriage and extramarital affairs of, 211, 256, 268, 302 publications of, 5, 170, 208, 242, 286 praise and criticisms of, 14, 88– 9, 211 – 12, 251, 274

334

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

and qualities as an intelligence chief, 8, 201, 203 – 5, 211, 268 recommendations for espionage system by, 114 – 15 and service with Fliegerabteilung 300, 123 –40, 268 in Switzerland, 186, 300 tour of newsroom network by, 153 –65, 280 –4 and traveling in Arab dress, 4, 264 and war’s-end analysis of propaganda failures, 191 – 5 Pru¨fer, Curt, views on Armenian genocide, 204 – 5 German culture and nationalist propaganda, 150 –1, 192 – 3 holy war campaign, 81, 95, 150 imperialism and nationalism, 9, 198, 208 –9 Sharif Husayn and the Arab Revolt, 129, 132, 135, 145 – 6, 201 – 3 World War I, 9 Qal’at an-Nakhl, 38, 73, 96, 235 –6, 238, 251, 259 al Qantara, 43 –4, 51, 69– 70, 83, 130, 235, 251, 273 Qatiya, 127, 139, 272 Radowitz, Charge´ d’Affaires (first name unknown), 142 – 3, 277 –8 Rahha, Hajj Muhammad, 31, 34, 48 railroads, 58, 99, 107 in Anatolia, 21– 2, 141 – 2, 144, 153 –5, 164 – 5, 214, 222 – 3, 277, 280 –1, 284 and Baghdad Railway, 22, 42, 161, 164, 214, 222 – 4, 229, 242, 271, 277, 281, 283 in Egypt, 17, 44 –7, 56, 102 – 3, 242 –3, 247, 257 in Europe and the Balkans, 13 –14, 177 –8, 180 – 1, 183, 185, 187 and Hijaz Railway, 27, 29– 30, 35 –6, 38, 48, 54, 118, 190, 219, 222, 224, 226, 229, 232, 236 – 7, 239, 242 – 3, 245 –7, 253, 281, 300

in Lebanon, 23– 4, 42, 47, 141, 157, 161, 260, 276 in Mesopotamia, 162 in Ottoman Empire, 5, 210 in Palestine, 23, 29– 31, 41 –2, 98, 106, 126, 158 –60, 230 – 1, 233, 253, 256, 262, 282 in Sinai, 58– 9, 106 – 7, 109, 233, 269, 273, 275 in Sudan, 92 –93, 99, 257, 267 at the Suez Canal, 44, 72, 77– 8, 250 in Syria, 22– 3, 42, 46, 98, 141, 155 – 7, 160 –2, 164, 253, 260 in Transjordan, 54, 59 Rauf Bey, 175, 177, 291 Rauf (Orbay), Captain Hu¨seyın, 35, 38, 236 Red Sea, 45, 55, 90, 93, 191, 217, 219 –20, 235, 242, 255, 257, 267 Res¸at, Sultan Mehmet V, 174, 209, 225, 242, 245, 273, 290 Richthofen, Herbert, Baron von, 177, 184, 293 Riecken, Georg, 19, 221 Romani, 128, 130, 135 – 8, 275 –6 Romberg, Gisbert Baron von, 178, 181, 183, 185, 294, 300 Rome, 86 –7, 90, 92, 94, 97, 104, 254 –5, 258 Ro¨ssler, Walter, 22, 141, 156, 224 Rothschild, Moses, 48, 92, 94, 97, 100, 256, 259 –60 Rumania, 7, 13– 14, 28, 104 – 5, 112, 209, 213, 264, 274, 286 Ruppin, Dr Arthur, 53, 170, 246, 285 Russian Empire, 24, 29, 41, 86, 98, 103, 104 –5, 112, 132, 162, 164, 174, 204, 213, 216, 241, 262, 264, 266, 274, 279 –80, 286 and Armenia, 16, 217, 288 and declaration of war against Central Powers, 237 diplomats of, 24, 39– 40, 105 military operations of, 132, 213, 223, 246 – 7, 260, 273 – 4 navy of, 35, 49, 102, 173, 237, 244, 291

INDEX revolutions and Entente counterattack in, 183, 260, 298 and Russian Jews and pogroms, 53, 103, 113, 254, 256, 265, 285 and Russo-Turkish War, 177, 209, 247, 293 threats to Ottoman Empire by, 2, 7, 99, 217 Turkish attack of, 18, 29, 35, 210, 215, 237 Sabih Bey, Major, 25, 33– 5, 37, 39 –40, 42, 46, 57 as-Sallum, 18, 43, 82, 220 Salonika, 14, 213, 244 Samarin, 28, 31, 158, 231 Sami Bey, 15, 18, 20, 90, 216 Sami Bey, Bakir, 24, 226 – 7, 237 Sanders, General Liman von, 7, 18, 20, 26, 31, 34, 67, 139, 171 –2, 211, 214, 295 sandstorms, 60, 65, 71, 76, 110, 125, 128, 131, 271 Sanussis, 43, 55, 82, 159, 165 – 6, 221, 242, 247, 255 and conflicts with the British, 216 –17, 220, 253, 290 as-Sanussi, Muhammad ‘Idris, 253 as-Sanussi, Sayyid Ahmad, Sharif, 166, 253, 290 Sarona, 41, 128, 228, 281 Schabinger von Schowingen, Karl Emil, Baron, 158 – 9, 282 Scharfenberg, (first name unknown), 14, 144, 175, 177, 214 Schieffer, Karl, 25, 33, 41, 46, 49, 160, 227 Schmidt, Consul Edmund, 30, 34, 37, 42, 91, 143, 233, 256 Schumacher, Gottlieb, 30, 32, 232 Schwedler, Wilhelm, 19– 20, 221 Selim, Fuad, 50, 55, 173, 177, 183, 290 Serapeum, 68 –9, 75– 6, 249, 251 Serbia, 13, 213, 218 Sevastopol, 35, 40, 173, 237 Shakespear, Captain William, 85, 254 Sharif Bey, 32, 34, 40, 46, 160

335

Shawish, Shaykh ‘Abd al ‘Aziz, 16 –19, 55, 206 – 7, 246, 284, 286 ships, Breslau, 8, 15, 219 Corcovado, 142, 277 Emden, 118, 267 General, 142 – 3, 277 Goeben, 8, 15, 40, 219, 222, 291 Khedivial Mail shipping line, 18, 29, 219, 232 Peter Rickmer, 25, 227 Saidieh, 29, 231 ash-Shuqayri, Shaykh ‘As’ad, 22– 6, 29, 31–3, 38, 49– 50, 224, 263 Sinai, 98, 130, 224, 244, 247, 271, 277 and evacuation by British, 33, 38, 236, 238 and the first Suez expedition, 43–4, 56, 64, 66– 81, 215, 222, 233, 235 – 6, 238, 243, 247 –51, 263, 274 – 6 German air superiority in, 269 harsh climate of, 64– 6, 69, 96, 110, 131, 248, 259, 262, 269, 275 scouting, 228 –30, 235, 242 and the second Suez expedition, 84, 127, 129, 133, 136 – 40, 145 – 6, 267, 269 – 76, 279 Souchon, Admiral Wilhelm, 18, 219, 237 Spoer, Dr Hans, 53, 160, 245 Sprotte, Emile, 40, 46, 176, 240, 292 Stotzingen, Major Othmar, 267 – 8, 274, 289 Sudan, 117 –8, 216 – 17, 243, 258, 267 British in, 78, 190, 230, 257 Egyptian army in, 17, 92– 3, 257 and Sudanese defectors, 51, 55, 72 Suez (town), 19, 28, 44– 5, 54, 56, 70, 76, 90, 139, 221, 235, 238, 242 – 3, 247 Suez Canal, 8, 17, 25, 27, 29, 32– 3, 35, 43–4, 49, 53, 56, 58– 9, 65, 68 –9, 71–2, 75 –7, 103, 106, 221, 229, 242 –3, 247, 249, 250 –1 and freshwater canal, 57, 247 and geopolitical value to Great Britain, 8, 107 – 8 Susermann, Erich, 43, 52, 63, 65– 7, 69, 71–4, 80, 242

336

GERMANY 'S COVERT WAR

Suwakin, 117 – 18, 257, 267 Switzerland, 20, 104, 143, 173, 184, 186, 197, 218, 260, 299 Arab and Turkish exiles in, 182, 289 –90, 296 khedive and entourage in, 170 – 1, 180, 185 –6, 190, 284, 287 –9, 293 – 4, 299 –300 Sykes, Sir Mark, 239 Syria, 7, 15, 22, 53, 85, 103 – 4, 106, 156, 162 – 4, 176, 205, 212, 223 – 4, 227 – 8, 236 –7, 242 – 4, 247 –8, 261, 290 and annual hajj, 239, 244 Arab nationalism in, 224, 240, 263, 270 –1, 278, 298 Arab revolt and, 273, 276 Armenian genocide and, 210 and German imperialist designs on, 95, 252 –3, 262 local troops and military operations in, 252, 256, 281, 284, 300 peoples and cities of, 221, 223 –4, 226, 283 rumors and public opinion in, 39, 59, 83, 110 – 15, 173 questionable loyalties of, 81 rail transport in, 219, 239, 253, 260 postwar uprisings in, 197 Talaat Pasha, Mehmet, 6, 14– 16, 18, 26, 67, 170, 174, 176 – 7, 210, 229, 237, 277, 285, 287, 291 and Armenian genocide, 7, 204 and flight and assassination by Armenian nationalists, 196, 301 –2 Tatars, 172, 286, 288 Taurus Mountains, 21– 2, 142, 223, 277, 281, 284, and Taurus tunnel, 154, 222 – 4 Thrace, 14, 99, 210, 213, 260, 286 Touqan, ‘Abd al Fattah, 28, 30, 49, 231 Townshend, General Charles, 171, 287, 300 Transjordan, 25, 197, 219, 225 – 6, 229, 238 – 9, 247 –8

Triple Entente, 7, 54, 97– 8, 111 – 12, 165, 188, 196, 204, 210 –11, 213, 216 –17, 221, 240, 244 – 6, 253, 255 –6, 258 – 9, 262 –4, 267, 273, 278, 284 –5, 287, 290, 298 Tripoli (Lebanon), 29, 33, 38, 232, 234 Tripoli (Libya), 66, 159, 165 – 6, 173, 183, 217, 248, 251 Tunisia, 102, 165, 216, 218, 238, 284 Turkey (Republic of), 210, 221, 301 Turkish language, 6, 143, 150 –2, 192, 207, 227, 280, 282, 291 Tussun, 71 –2, 76– 7, 250 Tzschirner-Tzschirne, Hans-Erich von, 32, 37– 9, 43, 46, 48– 9, 211 – 12, 224, 234, 238 United States, 20, 26, 46, 74, 101, 103 –4, 112, 164, 170, 179, 192, 194, 198, 212, 245, 251 –2, 264, 289 and declaration of war on Germany, 260 diplomats of, 38, 216, 260 and navy, 114 Vienna, 13, 171 – 2, 177, 212, 260, 262, 299 Wangenheim, Ambassador Hans, Baron von, 7, 14, 16, 18 –19, 34, 50, 74, 80, 84, 89, 91 –2, 94, 211, 240, 245, 251 –2, 262 Wassmuss, Wilhelm, 19–20, 38, 220, 222 Weizmann, Chaim, 256 Weizmann, Minna, 63, 92, 104, 247, 256, 261 –2 Wesendonk, Otto Gu¨nther von, 146, 152, 178, 181 –2, 191, 279 Wilhelm II, Kaiser, 51, 69, 172, 185, 215, 225, 233 –4, 289, 293, 295 –7, 299 –300 claims protectorship of world’s Muslims, 35, 209, 236 imperialist inclinations of, 5, 208, 211 and the Ottoman Empire, 5, 7, 209, 244, 255 and visit with the khedive, 180 – 1

INDEX Wilhelma, 158, 282 Wingate, Sir Reginald, 190, 230, 257 Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht, Paul, Count von, 110, 117, 141, 143, 211, 262 – 3, 266, 277, 280 Yahya, Imam, 145, 279 Yale, William, 207, 265 Yellin, David, 53, 104, 245 Yemen, 145, 166, 198, 203, 217, 238, 266 – 7, 279 Young Turks, 6, 15– 16, 145, 196, 202, 210, 232, 291 and CUP, 6– 7, 143, 207, 234, 236, 266, 280, 284, 296 and CUP central committee, 177, 210, 263 opposition to, 6, 209, 226, 273, 292, 295 –6, 298 and revolution of 1908, 6, 209, 225, 291

337

al Yusuf, ‘Abd al Hamid, 27, 40, 48 al Yusuf, ‘Abd ar-Rahman Pasha, 23 –5, 33–4, 38, 47, 50, 57, 225, 228 Zaghloul, Saad, 221 Zeki Bey, Colonel, 30– 1, 42, 233, 246 Zeki Pasha, Field Marshal Mehmet, 23–5, 33–5, 38 –9, 43, 46– 7, 57, 180 – 1 225, 228 Zionism, 198, 229, 256, 285 and colonies in Palestine, 28, 113, 231, 241, 285 Entente sympathies of, 54, 112 –13, 169 – 70, 231, 264 –5, 282, 285 Jewish opposition to, 264, 285 leaders and organizations of, 53, 104, 117, 166, 169 –70, 245 – 6, 266, 285 separatist tendencies of, 53, 112 – 13, 169 – 70, 264 – 5 Zu¨rich, 104, 186, 260, 300

Plate 1

Bedouin gendarmes at the El ’Ula station, Arabia. 1916. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Plate 2 Colonel Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein. 1916. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Plate 3 Galata Bridge in Constantinople, looking towards Galata and Pera. 1910. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Plate 4 Enver Pasha visiting the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem, accompanied by Djemal Pasha. 1916. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Plate 5 Turkish machine gunners at Tell ash-Sheria, Palestine. 1917. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Plate 6 Recruiting for the holy war near Tiberias, Palestine. 1914. Courtesy Library of Congress.

Plate 7 Fliegerabteilung 300 Pascha. Late 1916. Pru¨fer is standing in the back row, third from the left. Courtesy Norbert Schwake Collection.

Plate 8 Lieutenant von Bu¨low, center, after a double kill. El ʽArish. 1916. Courtesy Norbert Schwake Collection.

Plate 9 Curt Pru¨fer near Ismailiyyeh. 1915. Courtesy Trina Prufer Collection.

Plate 10

Curt Pru¨fer in Cairo. 1910. Courtesy Trina Prufer Collection.

Plate 11 Curt Pru¨fer in Turkish officer’s uniform. 1914. Courtesy Trina Prufer Collection.